Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2014 November 22

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November 22

How to set Firefox's default zoom level

Mac user. Minor issue. How do I set Firefox's default zoom level to a smaller size than 100%, say 80% (i.e., what I get when I click ⌘ Cmd+0)?--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 15:18, 22 November 2014 (UTC)

There are several addons that do that, here's one of them. KonveyorBelt 04:51, 23 November 2014 (UTC)

NumLock!? --Hans Haase (talk) 23:42, 25 November 2014 (UTC)

Through about:config, you can change Zoom.minPercent to 80, then ⌘ Cmd+-) it. You have to stretch your finger a little further, but might be worth it if you don't trust add-ons. InedibleHulk (talk) 23:51, 25 November 2014 (UTC)

Kindle vs. Kindle App

If I can read Kindle books on any device with the Kindle App, why would I want a Kindle?

It's easier to read in bright sunlight than a phone screen. Dbfirs 16:52, 22 November 2014 (UTC)

Specifically, it uses an Electronic paper display that works by reflecting incoming light rather than by glowing with a back-light. So no matter how bright the light shining on it, it's always crisp and legible. I find the Kindle's display much more like reading a paper book than a conventional tablet computer - it's hard to describe. The downside is that you can't read it in the dark. For a while I had one of those clip-on LED reading lights...but eventually I wound up using a tablet to read in bed at night and the Kindle to read in the daytime.

The other nice thing about the Kindle is that is uses almost zero battery power until you turn a page or something. You can read for hours a day and go for weeks or maybe even a month between recharges! The downside of that is that redrawing the display is relatively slow...plenty fast enough to do "page turning" - but relatively useless for interactive stuff - so surfing the web using the Kindle is painful.

The early Kindles also had a cellular networking feature - which was provided for free by Amazon. That meant that you didn't need WiFi and you didn't have to pay a cell-phone charge to get online. You could literally surf the web and download books *anywhere* for free. I don't think Amazon still offer that...but I could be wrong. My kindle is a really old one.

I also like the large, dedicated page-turn buttons. Much nicer than swiping the screen.

The Kindle is a really wonderful device if all you want to do is read books. Otherwise, get a regular tablet - they work just fine so long as you're not trying to read in direct sunlight and you can do a LOT more with them.

SteveBaker (talk) 17:57, 22 November 2014 (UTC)

"Modern" Kindles come with WiFi or optional cellular plan. The Kindle Paperwhite also has built-in screen illumination to augment environmental lighting (but no big buttons anymore). I prefer them for reading to a laptop because they are about the size and weight of a book, and I can easily read on one sitting anywhere (even in economy class ;-), standing, or even lying down. Great for novels, not so great for scientific texts. --Stephan Schulz (talk) 07:05, 24 November 2014 (UTC)

Not just Kindles, most other ereader variants now have screen illumination/front or side lit variants. That said, physical page turning buttons have also gone out the window with the move to touch screens in most cases. Personally I think this is dumb, but there's only two or so touch variants with physical page turning buttons (including the expensive new Kindle Voyage which has something similar). Even for those which are still using infrared touch and so don't generally have problems with any gloves, there are still cases when such buttons may be useful.

Note that "reading a paper book than a conventional tablet computer" is perhaps key here. The nature of eink like displays means even with the front lighting variants, they still don't quite look the same when the front light is on such as in the dark, as tablets using LCD or AMOLED displays (even high PPI ones which IMO do come a bit closer). Remember, even without builtin illumination there are a variety of ways you can light the display which people using physical books have been doing for a long time (which may not be so efficient and may sometimes annoy others, but may also be preferred by the person reading). To be clear while many people don't mind or even prefer reading on an LCD or AMOLED display (and definitely with a self illuminating display), some do dislike reading for long strectches on such LCD or AMOLED displays or find it causes eyestrain etc.

Note also despite the phablet craze, most phones are still smaller than the average sized eink reader (including all modern Kindles) although are generally smaller than most tablets (there are tablets which are similar sized as well as some readers which are closed to tablet size, but the point is you may or may not prefer the 6" form factor for novel ereading and you also may or may not prefer it for tablets or phones so these may not coincide and so if you can afford the ereader and it fits in to your lifestyle there's a reason why someone may want one as per the original question).

Note that beyond the refresh rate (although this is low, bear in mind in many devices the rate is also reduced by the slow rendering time), while eink can produce sharp crisp text, the low number of grey scales and other factors means it doesn't tend to do well with graphics. Many are also somewhat low res compared to the high PPIs now seen in tablets.

And we are talking grey scale, attempts to produce colour eink like displays don't seem to have been that successful so far, contrast seems to be one factor although the earlier mentioned limitations also reduce the utility of such displays when it comes to colour (since you'd want to do more than just have non black text).

Nil Einne (talk) 11:46, 24 November 2014 (UTC)

Looks like this question has pretty much been answered but as an Apple Fan Boy who owns everything but the iRack I wanted to say why even I bought a Kindle. Yes, I can read on my Mac and even on my iPad but the Kindle is so much more portable than even the iPad. Throwing the Kindle in my backpack is like throwing in a paperback book. I don't even have to think about it. Also, when you read for long periods of time the weight of the iPad vs. the Kindle can be a drag after a while or can cause you to use positions that are less than perfectly comfortable. If you are someone like me who never watches TV but never goes anywhere without a book the Kindle is a god send, it's like literally having a small library all at your finger tips and the thing weighs about the same as a paperback book. Also, as others have mentioned it's easier on the eyes than other displays. All these things seem trivial but if you read a lot they really make a difference after a while. BTW, the one thing I really like about the Kindle reader on my Mac (and why you can't do this with iBooks on the Mac I've never been able to understand) is if you are writing papers you can have books up at the same time and can copy and paste small sections to quote from a book in what you are writing. Once I saw I couldn't do that with iBooks but could do it with Kindle I was sold on the Kindle format even though I know I made Steve Jobs shed a tear in heaven. --MadScientistX11 (talk) 17:52, 26 November 2014 (UTC)

Arm chips

Do Apple and Qualcomm wtc pay patent fees to ARM to use SOC architecture or do they actually buy ARMS SOCs? 90.192.116.60 (talk) 17:29, 22 November 2014 (UTC)

It's complicated! ARM publishes a how-to Buying Guide that explains all the different things they sell, including intellectual property licenses and what they call a "foundry program" partnership. ARM doesn't have a semiconductor fabrication plant, but they know people who do and can help client companies figure that out detail. Nimur (talk) 17:57, 22 November 2014 (UTC)

MediaWiki getting the user's name in a template.

In MediaWiki (*not* Wikipedia) - is there a way to get the current user's name to insert as a parameter for a template?

I kinda expected to see it as one of the "magic words" - but for some reason it's either not there - or I am misunderstanding it.

Obviously, the four-tilde thing can do it...but I don't think I can abuse that to get what I need because it's expanded when an edit is committed and I want something more dynamic.

If not, is there an extension that adds that capability?

SteveBaker (talk) 18:01, 22 November 2014 (UTC)

$wgUser->getName() : see the User class reference.

...Are you writing PHP code or Wiki markup code for this template?Nimur (talk) 18:13, 22 November 2014 (UTC)

Markup. It's easy in PHP.

I discovered the "MyVariables" extension that adds {{CURRENTUSERNAME}} - I'm a little surprised it's not in the core MediaWiki package. ..but I guess if someone had to go to all the trouble to add an extension to do it, there probably isn't any mechanism in the core software. I wonder why not? SteveBaker (talk) 04:58, 23 November 2014 (UTC)

Printer is connected to the network but (I think) does not receive print requests

My office has 3 HP compaq dc7900 computers with Vista, all connected via network to an HP LaserJet P2050 printer. Each computer reads the printer (it shows up as Ready under Printers) but when I attempt to print from two of them the printer shows no sign of receiving the request, and about a minute later the printer status on the computer marks it as Error. I have just unchecked the SNMP box from the configuration port, as previously the printer was being read as offline. I don't know if that's relevant but thought it polite to mention.)

The printer is capable of printing Demo/test pages from itself without queue problems, which makes me think the problem is between the computer connecting to the printer. The third computer is capable of printing from the printer perfectly. What would be some good steps for me to try? I've already tried clearing printer spools and turning every relevant machine off and on again. 50.54.39.26 (talk) 18:17, 22 November 2014 (UTC)

I can't review your problem. Before changeing dirvers and configuration, ensure all settings of software like forms, printernames, paper formats can be restored by you. Note: some software uses special settings for printers. If your software does, you need to restore all this settings! Only, if you are sure, continue: First ensure, every of the 3 computers has installed and is using the same WHQL cerified driver, only! HP offers firmware updates for the machine and newer driver software. Firmware to upgrade may cause damage on failure! Read HPs instuctions carefully, ensure not power loss or similar when performing the firmware update. If the printer is connected to one computer by USB interface, remove and reinstall its driver. On the other computers drop and reconnect the shared driver, if prompted, reinstall the driver form the server to ensure the same version is on the computer. Some printers require to install bundled software with the driver. See the manual for this. Most of that printers software requre to run setup to install driver and software first, then connect the shared printer. If the printer is connected over ethernet, check IP settings first. Ensure the protocoll (ports 9100 or 515) to the printer is identical on each machine. Some printers require SNMP. Setup should open the firewall for this application. When using an external print server box (ethernet to usb), ensure the device and it's power supply have no malfunctionality in hardware and check its settings, too. Such devices have a web interface. In former versions of windows, found fragments of old print jobs. If no other printers are installed, have a look, but make a backup, before you delete. See the spooler directories of the other machines, to identify garbage. Never transfer files manually. In doubt, install the drivers. --Hans Haase (talk) 23:35, 25 November 2014 (UTC)

Original poster here. Doubt anyone will ever read this, but for future problem-solvers with this dilemma: The printer port had a slightly different IP Address from the computer port. Creating a new port using the correct printer IP Address solved the issue. 50.54.70.224 (talk) 00:18, 4 December 2014 (UTC)

Colors turn red after reboot and MS Visual C++

Whenever I restart my computer (Asus i7 64bit laptop with windows 7 and nvidia geforce gtx 670m) it changes from my last color calibration to a redder shade, so that whites become pink. This happens noticeably, within a fraction of a second after the desktop appears, and the icons load. In other words, the color is being actively changed from the previous setting by something that is loading on restart. I can fix this temporarily by going to the control panel and recalibrating the colors, but it's maddening to have to do this without fail on every restart.

This behavior only started about four months after I got the computer, it had been fine until then, and I did not install anything myself at that time that I believe would have caused the problem.

But, on checking my installed programs, I see I have a full 10 versions of Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 (and 2005) Redistributables, and I see that the earliest version of this shows an install date of four months after I got the computer in 2012. On the same and the following day I seem to have received a full system update with over 20 programs from MS, ASUS, Atheros, Intel, VIA technologies, Cyberlink, Synaptics, eCareme, etc.

Oh, and I just updated my nvidia driver, but the shift to red is still occurring.

(1) Is it possible the shift to red is being caused by a version of this MS Visual program? Is there some other likely source for the problem?

And

(2) Do I need all ten versions on my computer? Can I uninstall nine or at least some of them? Would I just keep the latest version? Or are they components that have to be kept?

Thanks. μηδείς (talk) 22:35, 22 November 2014 (UTC)

1) It is possible. Open task manager as soon as the computer turns to red shift, without starting anything up, and see what programs are running in the background.

2) Probably not, if each version is standalone. But if each update only adds a few files, then it is likely that it depends on the old versions as a base, so keep it. KonveyorBelt 23:51, 22 November 2014 (UTC)

Okay, I just rebooted (thank God for SSI) and checked task manager and nothing was running. I noticed the change to red happens just after the four note windows jingle ends, but before the icons appear for items pinned to my task bar. Looking at the Visual installations, most of them are about 256KB, but the first two are 11MB and 13MB. One has x64 next to it, and the other has x86 after the name. I have a 64 bit OS. Am I just totally barking up the wrong tree suspecting Visual might be the source of the problem? μηδείς (talk) 00:09, 23 November 2014 (UTC)

Check and see if the x64 has the same files or modifications thereof of the x86 version. If it does, it is standalone and the x86 can be deleted. As for the "updates", they are not standalone and the big x64 file, which I'm guessing is the base, needs to be kept. KonveyorBelt 04:47, 23 November 2014 (UTC)

• The red remains I deleted all the Visual x86 files without a hitch, but the change from my prior calibration to a very red tinted one remains when I boot up. Any other suggestions? I can take a screenshot of the programs that were installed on those two days. μηδείς (talk) 05:04, 23 November 2014 (UTC)

I spent an hour digging around various forums, but there doesn't appear to be any issues like yours that I can see a clear applicable fix for - it is highly unlikely that c++ had anything to do with it. What setting do you have in the Nvida control panel? (There's usually an icon to enter it in the little box of icons by the clock on the lower right [forget the name of them]). You should have an option to force colour management to be done through that; which may solve your problem. If that doesn't work, or you don't have such options in your case, it would be helpful to have the list of installed programs and any other info you might have handy. Since it is happening after windows boots, it doesn't sound like it is a hardware issue -- does it happen immediately upon going into windows or is there a delay? (I'll look around more tonight after a nap, I'm sure someone has had the same problem somewhere, or something like it, hopefully I'll have some more information for you).Phoenixia1177 (talk) 23:22, 23 November 2014 (UTC)

Thanks. The list of programs is long, I'll see if I can get a screenshot uploaded for commentary. I'll also check the Nvidia settings, although this will probably take me until later tonight. As for when the change occurs, my wallpaper appears first, in the old "good" calibration, then the icons appear on my desktop, then I hear the four-note windows signature micro-jingle then the screen reddens, and finally the items pinned to my taskbar appear. This is all from appearance of desktop to appearance of taskbar items happening within a fraction of a second, but the color change is obvious if you are paying attention. μηδείς (talk) 18:42, 24 November 2014 (UTC)

If you have an Asus, check these out: [1], [2]; it is related to a program that comes with their devices that gets set to something screwy - even if you don't have an Asus, you may have something similar, so might be worth a glance. This [3] explains how to keep your calibration setting, which might help - though, if there is another programming doing it, I'm not sure what "wins" out in that situation, so it may not be of use. Sadly, that's all I have without digging through a list of startup programs. If you download hijackthis and follow this, [4], you can get a list of startup programs - that would be a good place to start - if you want to post a full log from the program in a hat on my user page, I can go through that and see if there is anything telling, too.Phoenixia1177 (talk) 07:54, 25 November 2014 (UTC)

Yay! The problem was the Asus Splendid program, which I had been staring at last night. I have uninstalled it and the problem is gone. Our long national nightmare is over! Thanks to all! μηδείς (talk) 18:35, 25 November 2014 (UTC)

Resolved