Computer Questions Not Worth Their Own Thread

[Turner]

I remember my mom would always mix up "hard drive" and "memory." And it drives me crazy when the tech teacher calls desktop computers "the big ones."

I hate it when they say they're having problems with the hard drive, and they mean the computer. Or when they say they're having computer problems, but it's the monitor.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

I also found it funny.... my town's got a monthly magazine thingy, comes out with the Sunday flyers. And they were talking about backing up the data, and that one business had a "hardware failure" and it cost them a lot of money to recoevr the data. Well, unless it's the hard drive that failed (I'd guess more likely to be the PSU or mobo), how hard is it to pick up an external hard drive case thingy, and attach it, or just attach the drive as a slave? I know you can both pick up the case and the HDD wire thing in town.

Also, the teacher told me to turn on all the computers in a lab, so I was doing so, and one of them beeped because the HDD was missing. I'd tell the technician myself, but I can never catch him. I also shocked one of my teachers because he asked me to write a paragraph on what was the best computer, and I was going on and on about home-built ones. And the very last sentence was, "Oh, if you're looking for a prebuilt, Gateways and HPs tend to be pretty decent." I've heard everywhere that these two are decent, and my mom's got an HP.

And people who think certain brands of PCs are more likely to get viruses. Like, "I had a X brand, and it got a bunch of viruses, while Y brand didn't. So X brand sucks!" Well guess what? If you've got the exact same OS and programs, you're just as likely to get a virus on X as Y!

 

[Padma]

Is there a decent way to compile Linux proggies under Windows? I've done it before, but it came out horribly buggy. There's a few Linux programs I found interesting, but no Windows binaries.

Thanks.

Short answer: not really (yet).

Longer answer: It depends on the program, how it was written, what libraries it needs, etc. Windows C/C++ IDEs don't always perform optimally when compiling ANSI Standard code (read: without MS 'extensions'). More accurately, if you write a Windows program, you will probably use those extensions and libraries, and the compiler will optimize them efficiently. If you write a Linux program, and use standard, generic libraries for cross-platform viability, you will not be making use of any special Windows 'tweaks'.

You also need to be sure you have all the appropriate libraries available to compile against. For instance, GTK+ or QT libraries for the graphical front end, depending on the needs of the program. For instance, Firefox in Windows uses the GTK toolset. (As does the current Linux version, but there is a QT-based version in the works, for those of us who prefer it.)

Then, too, unless the program is explicitly said to be Windows-compatible, it might be expecting various *nix default things, like file structures, file/path separators ("/" vs "\"), etc.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

thank you.

 

[Padma]

... And they were talking about backing up the data, and that one business had a "hardware failure" and it cost them a lot of money to recoevr the data. Well, unless it's the hard drive that failed (I'd guess more likely to be the PSU or mobo), how hard is it to pick up an external hard drive case thingy, and attach it, or just attach the drive as a slave? I know you can both pick up the case and the HDD wire thing in town.

If they had an actual head crash, recovering the data can be very expensive. The read/write heads of a disk "fly" just microns above the surface of the platter. (Okay, it's actually the platters spinning underneath the relatively stationary head.) a 7200 rpm disk is traveling at over 70 miles an hour at the outside edge. At that kind of speed, when the head crashes, it can destroy significant chunks of data. And of course, the disk is unusable - putting it into another case, or anything, isn't going to make it work. Special techniques can be used to recover most of the data on a disk (although there is usually some portion that is beyond recovery). Because they are "special" (almost "trade secret") and very time-consuming, they cost a lot of money to use.

OTOH, it is possible that they were "uneducated" enough (I wouldn't want to call them "stupid" ) to think that "Oh! The computer crashed. We'll need to hire somebody to recover our data!" and they got taken to the cleaners by a less-than-scrupulous "businessman".

 

[Padma]

I still haven't quite figured out the difference between a program and an application. Because according to my dictionary:
application: A program that gives a computer instructions that provide the user with tools to accomplish a task

An app is a program, but not all programs are apps.

An "application" is generally a user-oriented program, like MS Word, or the Gimp. But there are also many system programs running on your computer, that you have no direct interaction with.

 

[Zelig]

Short answer: not really (yet).

Although GCC in Cygwin is pretty good for it.

 

[Till]

Is there a decent way to compile Linux proggies under Windows? I've done it before, but it came out horribly buggy. There's a few Linux programs I found interesting, but no Windows binaries.

Thanks.

Programmes that make use of the unix/posix api won't compile. Not unless you install cygwin, which emulates the missing api calls. Alternatively, you can install Linux on a virtual machine / use colinux. The later approach has the advantage of giving you full access to the huge debian/ubuntu repositories with up to date binaries of most linux programmes/libs. Cygwin's selection of packages is limited and badly out of date in some cases.
I use both, cygwin and colinux.

Programmes that were written to be portable will compile, but as Padma said, you almost always have to fulfill dependencies. If you are unlucky, the programmes depends on libraries with no windows binaries, forcing you to compile them as well. (And those libaries will have dependencies on their own...)

I haven't had much problems with the Visual Studio compiler choking on code that wasn't actually buggy, but when it does, there's always the cygwin gcc, and mingw to fall back upon.

 

[lndm]

there is a QT-based version in the works, for those of us who prefer it

Do you just use KDE, or do you find QT better than GTK?

 

[Padma]

I use KDE. I try to avoid religious wars like QT vs GTK.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

If they had an actual head crash, recovering the data can be very expensive. The read/write heads of a disk "fly" just microns above the surface of the platter. (Okay, it's actually the platters spinning underneath the relatively stationary head.) a 7200 rpm disk is traveling at over 70 miles an hour at the outside edge. At that kind of speed, when the head crashes, it can destroy significant chunks of data. And of course, the disk is unusable - putting it into another case, or anything, isn't going to make it work. Special techniques can be used to recover most of the data on a disk (although there is usually some portion that is beyond recovery). Because they are "special" (almost "trade secret") and very time-consuming, they cost a lot of money to use.

OTOH, it is possible that they were "uneducated" enough (I wouldn't want to call them "stupid" ) to think that "Oh! The computer crashed. We'll need to hire somebody to recover our data!" and they got taken to the cleaners by a less-than-scrupulous "businessman".

Yes, I read somewhere the platters spinning creates a "wind" which makes the head spin just...about 5 microns above the surface. And thus, "flying heads." I also read it's like trying to fly a jet 6 inches above the ground. And the arms are moving back and forth. Sometimes on youtube, you can see videos where the arms are hitting the thing in the center that keeps the platters in place.
Head crashes are probably the worst HDD crash you can get, if you ask me. And you need a clean room to open it up. I've heard about people creating clean rooms in their houses by steaming up the bathrooms and bleaching down everything, but I'm not sure how well that works.
I seen a head-crashed HDD (and in contrast, one that wasn't head-crashed but probably broken in some other way) at school. It was really awful-looking.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

When my CRT monitor becomes active from being turned off or power-save, it "crackles" due to static discharge. However, why would it crackle when it's turned on and active? It only does it maybe once a month or so.

 

[lndm]

Picture tubes tend to respond this way to being charged. If it is happening at random, I might think of things like component drift, with a climbing charge with time, or dry capacitors with reduced filtration capability, or dry solder joints or other component mechanical weaknesses that cause circuit variation as they alter with temperature. It might also be dust.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

Well, the time it happened, my mom turned off her TV. Can a power change in another outlet in the same house make a monitor crackle?

EDIT: To test it, I turned my lamp on and off rapidly, and it's on the outlet on the other side of the room. It crackled a little bit. My speakers also sounded like firecrackers.

 

[lndm]

I believe so.

EDIT: The speakers would be demodulating transmitted electromagnetic radiation where as the monitors may be responding to a wall voltage change.

 

[Genocidicbunny]

Is it possible to hook up a Gamecube to a monitor through VGA? Im reading so far that you need a converter box, but that people have also done it with just the cables. My GC has no high-def out, only the analog. Im willing to pay for a cable if one exists and is less than 10$.
ive just got a sudden urge to play SSBM and I dont want to go back and forth between the living room and my room to do so.

 

[Aramazd]

Looking at my Gamecube, it doesn't have a VGA out, so it seems like you would need a converter box, although if you could get an S-video cable, you should be able to plug it into your graphics card.

 

[Genocidicbunny]

My graphics card doesnt have a S-Video input, only an output. Ill try it, though, I think I have an S-Video to RCA plug somewhere.

 

[Aramazd]

My graphics card doesnt have a S-Video input, only an output. Ill try it, though, I think I have an S-Video to RCA plug somewhere.

Yeah, mine too. I'm a bit sleepy and for some reason thought it was an input.

 

[Genocidicbunny]

Well, seems like I cant find a tv tuner online for under 10$. Ill stop by a local electronics place to see if they've got one (I love living in the bay area, there are electronics stores that carry near everything around here, even old phonographs)