Computer Questions Not Worth Their Own Thread II

[Bratmon]

^
http://www.toms.net/rb/

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

Thanks.

Another question: When reading up on the Commodore 64, about half the sources say there were 17 million sold. The other half say there were 30 million. Which one is right and why the big difference?

 

[Cutlass]

Check and see if one is the US count and the other world count. Or they may be referring to different versions. Or, someone who put an article on the internet screwed up.

 

[PlutonianEmpire]

Are there any good freeware applications that can record a video of my computer screen or computer game? If so, what are they?

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

So, a couple of hours ago my speakers made this loud "pffffffft" noise and now it's sounding increasingly static-y. I know they're going to go pretty soon, but what exactly happened?

EDIT: I just looked at some diagrams of things and my best guess is something to do with the material in the cone. Where the loud noise maybe it was tearing.

 

[GoodGame]

So, a couple of hours ago my speakers made this loud "pffffffft" noise and now it's sounding increasingly static-y. I know they're going to go pretty soon, but what exactly happened?

EDIT: I just looked at some diagrams of things and my best guess is something to do with the material in the cone. Where the loud noise maybe it was tearing.

I'd think it just accidentally got over voltaged. Do you have the knobs (sound, etc..) turned all the way up? I believe that's usually bad, and you should have them set to mid-range only.

Also, maybe let it rest, and only plug/unplug it with the power turned off.

But yeah, if its continually staticy, you probably fried it with electricity. So treat your next pair more gently, and be sure you have it plugged into a voltage protector.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

I usually only have it around the mid-range volume anyways. I don't turn it up all the way. The static sound has gone down some after I had the speakers off for a while, but I have a spare set in my closet in case they decide to burst into flames or something (j/k).

I did use the adaptor that came with the speakers. Another question is if you use an adapter that's too big for the electronic device, will it fry it? (I know that if you plug in a DC where it was supposed to be AC it will, as this happened to one of my CD players. It started overheating and then it wouldn't turn on. It wasn't under warranty so I opened it up. Some parts of what I think is the circuit board were melted)

 

[Ulyaoth]

Are there any good freeware applications that can record a video of my computer screen or computer game? If so, what are they?

Fraps is all I can think of but I think it might not be free anymore.


Does the computer being in standby mode(when it looks like it's off but it keeps all your login info ready) use much electricity? I was wondering if it'd be efficient to just keep it in that instead of turning it off from now on.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

Fraps is all I can think of but I think it might not be free anymore.

1.9 is the last free version, I think. If you google it you can still get a hold of it. I use CamStudio but it can be rather buggy at times.

Does the computer being in standby mode(when it looks like it's off but it keeps all your login info ready) use much electricity? I was wondering if it'd be efficient to just keep it in that instead of turning it off from now on.

Standby still uses quite a bit of electricity, not as much as running it in full mode. There's also hibernation (although it only works for some computers) which is slower to come back but uses a lot less electricity. Also, about standby, it stores everything on the RAM so you lose everything if the power goes out, while hibernation stores it on the HDD.

What I think, if you're leaving it for just a few hours standby should be OK, unless you're really on a tight budget.

 

[Genocidicbunny]

Fraps is all I can think of but I think it might not be free anymore.


Does the computer being in standby mode(when it looks like it's off but it keeps all your login info ready) use much electricity? I was wondering if it'd be efficient to just keep it in that instead of turning it off from now on.

Compared to completely turning your computer off, standby is a power hog. With that being said, it is a lot less electricity than keeping it on.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

I have a question: Since my external hard drive survived for a while now, is there a more efficient way to copy data from my old external to the new one? Copying and pasting seems to be a bit on the slow side. Both drives are USB. I did google it but I got some fancy scripting stuff and some stuff for production servers, lol.

 

[Genocidicbunny]

Well...no. You can either copy the data directly at half the speed of a full USB bus or you can copy the data to your internal drive and then onto the new external at twice the time. Either way, it'll end up taking the same amount of time.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

Well, I suppose if I could find a way to speed up the USB transfer it would work faster. This page mentions getting faster USB cables, which I think are cheap. it also mentions not plugging too many into one USB hub as it's divides the bandwidth. I plugged both drives into the front ports, but if I plugged one into the back, would that speed things up any?

Either way it's not a big issue.

 

[Genocidicbunny]

You cant go above a USB bus' maximal data rate. A 'faster cable' doesn't exist as the whole issue is with your USB controller, not the cable you use. As long as you're using USB 2.0 with a proper cable, then you wont be able to eek out any significant increase in speed.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

OK, now I get it.

EDIT: Ooh, USB 3.0 is supposed to come available this year.

 

[Genocidicbunny]

USB 3 is already available. You need a USB 3 controller card or a motherboard with it built in and a device that can support it.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

Oh. LOL. I just saw that the Wikipedia article said that USB 3 for the consumer should be available in 2010.

 

[Genocidicbunny]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...=40000073&Description=usb 3&name=Add-On Cards

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

Suppose it's worth it? I'd wait until there's some more USB 3.0 available and the price goes down.

 

[Fëanor]

Depends on how fast your HDD is. USB 2.0's max speed is about 60MB/s, while USB 3.0 is should achieve at least 400MB/s.

Personally i hope Intel's Light Peak becomes a great success so we can get rid all these crappy standards (USB, (e)SATA, Firewire etc.) in favor of a vastly superior one.