Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with computing

IT advice for non-profit

dougiedd — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 22:57:31 -0800

How likely is it that in the next 2-3 years cloud computing (using for example google chrome OS with web apps running off thin clients) will be the norm and how should a non-profit organization with high tech needs (healthcare) but limited tech resources begin to position itself for the changes this might entail?

Who made a prognosis of the future of computers in the first half of 20th century?

fifigyuri — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 01:00:57 -0800

In the first half of the 20th century groups of scientists in United States created the first electronic computers, fitting big halls, they needed permanent assistance because of overheating and continuous repair. The price of the construction and the maintenance was probably huge. Having such a thing was expensive, it seemed to be probably a luxury what only very very few countries could afford at that time. BUT, there was a scientist who prognosed that at the end of the 20th century every country in the world will be able to afford such a machine. He was obviously true. Now every country has at least one computer. My question(s): Who was this person? Where and when did he told what he told? And the exact citation would be appreciated. I am very sure it was he, the club of computers was filled by gentlemen at this time I think. I don't know whether it was Neumann or someone else. Please help, I am very curious about this. I did not find the answer by myself, for sure you all now more. Thanks! I am a bit confused where to put my question. Category computers & Internet or ... society & culture is I think closer to a question what I would put to category History, if it would exist here. Computers & Internet is about different things as I see. Hopefully the choice society & culture fits well.

How do I electronicify my Dad's paperwork?

mooreeasyvibe — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 04:04:21 -0800

Help us get things electronic. My Dad has lot of forms (an example of one here) to fill out for his little electrician business. Lots of forms for each job. How can he fill them out on the computer, save it to a database and be able to print them out? Ideally the computer version would look the same and he would be able to tab through the fields.

Any suggestions how we could do this?

Many thanks in advance

Chris

Given a blank slate, how would you network your house?

hydrophobic — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 03:55:03 -0800

How would you network your home if you had a blank slate? Wired or wireless? Our house is about to be almost entirely demolished and we have the opportunity to 'future-proof' our home. Given that the walls are down, should we take the chance to fill them full of wires? If so, what sort? The requirements:

1. Reliable. The #1 concern.
2. Secure.
2. High-capacity. HD media-streaming ready.
3. Affordable. This isn't a 'money is no object' question.
4. Low-maintenance. With no in-house tech. support, it needs to be easy to maintain. Any suggestions for really simple, user-friendly, network gear would be appreciated.
5. Future proof. If we go with wiring, it's going to be a long time before we can get in there and upgrade!

Bonus points: B+B guests should be able to gain access to the internet, without joining the intranet. Perhaps a wireless gateway isolated from the intranet?

Currently we're running on Ethernet-over-power sockets, but the new house will have 3 different mains circuits, so this will no longer be an option.

Netbook for a grad student.

The White Hat — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 11:45:43 -0800

Netbook for a grad/med student: what should I get? (Long list of desired features inside) So I'm starting into an MS in public health research and will hopefully be entering med school at some point in the near future, and I'm looking for something portable to do the following:
- take lecture notes that may include diagrams
- annotate power point slides
- Read, manage, and annotate PDF files, preferably with zotero, preferably in a way that can have a shared library with my main computer running XP.
- Run small-scale statistical analyses in SPSS/Excel or programs that will open/manipulate those files.
- General browsing, word processing, e-mail, &c.

From that list of things I'd like to do, I've come up with the following features I'd like my netbook to have:
- Touch screen, preferably one that folds back to make a tablet
- Complete keyboard
- At least 1 gig of RAM
- Very long battery life (>6hrs)
- Windows (or at least the ability to use/manipulate Office files & SPSS databases
- fast booting time
- WiFi, USB ports, sturdy construction &c.

Do netbooks exist with this set of features? Where can I find them? Will I need to sell a kidney?

How many FLOPS is planet Earth?

mpls2 — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 14:05:18 -0800

How many (available, i.e., plugged in) spare GHz are there in the world? In other words, if every computer in the world were connected via some Folding@home-like network, and were using every clock cycle not dedicated to some other "official" purpose (be it work, gaming, whatever), how many Peta/Exa/GoogleFlops would it be?

Thanks!

(and how did you come up with your answer?)

Hacker Essays

MotorNeuron — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 14:46:43 -0800

Do you know of any more essays like Hackers, In the Beginning Was the Command Line, or the DadHacker Atari Articles?

Is it wise to replace local IT services with, say, Gmail?

media_itoku — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 14:45:22 -0800

My computer science department is debating replacing its in-house services with internet-based services (e.g. no mail server, but use Gmail instead; no local home pages but use gmail pages instead). Is this a good idea? Any hidden traps/cost with the approach? Does anyone have success or horror stories with this approach that I can share with my committee?

Learning real-time sound event synchronization C++ programming?

dubitable — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 13:37:40 -0800

What are the libraries/techniques that are available for event synchronization in C++? More specifically, how would I go about learning the best strategies for synchronizing events (say, a graphical event with an sound, or one sound with another)? I'm looking to learn about the techniques that are used by complex games as well as audio software, like Ableton Live or Logic. I've programmed in a number of languages and frameworks but most of the time I haven't had to think about this aspect of making (rudimentary) sound software. I guess I don't care too much about a response being C++ specific if it helps me understand the general concepts well, but I figure that's a good place to start, since that's the language I want to use.

I see that there are some libraries out there that may be appropriate, but I'm a relative n00b at C++ and real-time programming, and I'm not sure how to proceed. Do game/audio programmers use complex systems for syncing events, or is it "not that hard?" Do they roll their own usually, or are there standard libs out there that I just don't know about? Are there good open source projects out there that implement this sort of thing that I could look at? Am I even asking the right questions?

Many thanks!

Advice on how to make a (temporary) move from Australia to America (visas, employment etc)?

ranglin — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 18:53:45 -0800

My wife has recently expressed an interest in moving from Australia to America to work for a year (possibly longer). Can anyone provide some advice on how to make this possible (visas, employment etc)? My wife has recently expressed an interest in moving from Australia to America to work for a year (possibly longer). I am a little hesitant about uprooting our lives for the unknown, but am willing to investigate more and find out if it really is feasible.

I am an academic (University lecturer/researcher) with a PhD in IT and an MBA. I would like to stay in this field as I am quite happy with my career progression so far and feel that teaching at an American University would give me an invaluable learning experience and open up further opportunities for me when we return home.

We don’t really know that much about living in America, having only been there in a tourist capacity several years ago so have no idea of the best places to live, and where to focus our search. My wife does have quite a leaning towards Los Angeles though.

Can any MeFites shed some light on this for us and provide information regarding Working Visas, employment opportunities and location possibilities?

Thanks all!

Progression-tracking via Excel?

booticon — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 13:56:30 -0800

YAEQ: How would I generate a chart in Excel 2007 that tracks, not towards a goal per se, but progress of a value over a length of time? I'm trying to generate a chart in Excel 2007. I have a spreadsheet with only two columns--one with a date and one with an integer. I'm trying to generate a chart that tracks progress where the integers accumulate, so the sum of the values would be at the top of the value axis. The "history" of values would accumulate towards said sum.

FWIW, sorry if this has been asked before. My Excelfu is weak and I'm not quite sure if I have the terminology before. That said, Google didn't help me very much either. Conceptually it seems easy enough and is probably a stupid function. I'm sorry if I made this more complicated than it actually is.

Creating custom files

Gyan — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 11:20:51 -0800

How do I create a "custom file" in Windows XP? There's this biiig file I want to download. I have a slow and unreliable net connection. I have two sources: a torrent offering low speed, and links to a one-click hoster for a split multi-part version of the same file(.001, .002..etc).

Problem: I don't have a premium membership at the hoster so if a download gets interrupted I have to redownload that file from the start, costing me time and marginal bandwidth cost, and no guarantee of success on the retry.

Potential solution: I attempt to download as much as I can from the HTTP hoster, saving completed & even truncated downloads. I then create a "custom file" of bytecount equal to my target file. I "paste in" the data from my attempted downloads, after calculating the offsets. I then load the torrent, point it to the custom file, and it downloads the remaining pieces which fail the hash check. I have successfully done this last part earlier but with a single non-split file.

How do I go about doing this?

P.S. if there's an easier solution, I'd like to know of it, but I'm interested in knowing if the above can be done.

Help me choose a monitor

rhymer — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 03:48:00 -0800

Help me a choose a widescreen monitor. The more I look, the more confused I get. Tell me what to do. Please. OK, so I know there have been threads on this before, but new monitors appear almost as quickly as banks disappear.

I'm currently using a cheapo, old Dell R172FPt, 4:3 TN panel monitor. Nothing wrong with it, but advertising tells me that my display should make a more positive and aspirational lifestyle statement. And besides, I like the shiny.

I currently use my monitor mainly for office / internet with an occasional bit of photography (just playing around, nothing professional). I would like to be able to read two docs side by side. It's pretty unlikely that I will ever watch movies on it or play games. Generally I'm a fairly undemanding user, although I'd rather buy something that's reasonably good quality. But what?

I guess I want at least 20 inches, probably 22 or perhaps even 24. I thought the HP w2207h looked pretty nice as did a few Dells and some Samsungs. So, I started looking in earnest and this is why I got really, really confused. Here are the details of my confusion.

Resolution: Do I want 1680 x 1050 or 1900 x 1200? Remember, I don't watch movies.

Panel type: Do I want the cheaper TN or the more expensive other types - and if so, which one? Will I notice the difference? Will it rock my world? I currently have a geriatric TN and it seems OK.

Size: I've looked in PC World and, frankly 22 inches seems plenty big enough. I don't particularly want a TV on my desk and besides monster screens always seem a bit vulgar to me. Is there a compelling 24" argument, given my needs?

Style: I would prefer my monitor be relatively understated and not to look like something out of an 80s apartment or some bizarre geek-fetish object. It will be sitting with a brushed aluminium PC case, but black would probably look better than mismatched silver.

Various: It must have a digital input and I quite like the idea of one that can swivel through 90 degrees although, frankly, I'll probably use this feature twice. The graphics card I have is a GeForce 7900 GT/GTO and I am using Ubuntu. The PC is pretty new and well specced. I'm in the UK, so no esoteric US brands like Westinghouse, pls; also some monitors are somewhat pricier here than a direct exchange rate comparison.

Price: This is why I'm so confused. It would seem that I could spend anything from about £130 (ASUS VW222S) to about £400 (Dell 2408). Ideally I'd prefer not to pay more than £200. Is that enough? As I say, I'm not that demanding a user...

All in all I don't have a clue. About five months ago, I built a new PC and asked for advice here. People were terribly helpful and offered good, practical advice. Once again, lease cast the bread of your wisdom upon the waters of my ignorance. Hopefully we'll wind up with more than soggy bread.

automatic back-up solution for someone who doesn't understand computers

conrad101 — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 06:11:02 -0800

I'm helping out an elderly lady who is using a laptop with XP which is showing signs of unreliability. It is now permanently sat on a table so it doesn't get moved around. She is especially concerned about a failure leading to a loss of outlook express e-mails. This person is easily confused by all things computer related so it has to work with minimum intervention and be as simple as possible. I was thinking of using an external drive and Acronis true image 11 home. I would set up True image to mirror on to the external drive. I was also thinking of automatically forwarding all outlook express mails to a web mail account - yahoo mail - as she has a yahoo account already. Being able to read from a webmail account would allow uninteruped service should anything go wrong. Is there anything wrong with this?

Tell me about current NAS manufacturers and technology?

loquacious — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 04:53:34 -0800

Tell me about Network Attached Storage ( NAS )? In particular what current manufactuers should I avoid for a typical 1 terabyte (or greater) RAID array? I'm also interested in general information and pitfalls for NAS devices and implementations. Deployment is for a mixed platform small office - about 8 seats. Platforms are XP, Vista and OS X.

I'm assuming SAMBA protocol for shares. Usage is low to medium - the office needs a data/file server for storing and reliably sharing typical office documents.

They emphatically do not need an actual server. There's no forseeable upgrade path to an in-office Exchange server or domain controller or the like - this is handled by a remote office through VPN. I could build them a PC-based solution using something like FreeNAS but that would be overkill, and I don't want to introduce a possibly flaky desktop/server into their office.

What NAS models or manufacturers are considered the most reliable? Best support? Best value?

Much thanks in advance!

Is there an easy way to share custom Acrobat stamps?

wheat — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 06:16:00 -0800

Adobe Acrobat Professional (8.0): Is there any way to distribute stamps from one machine to another? How about simply sorting them? I teach online and convert student papers to PDF because I like Acrobat's comments and markup tools (especially the Text Edits, Sticky Note, Stamps, and Underline Text Tool). I have a custom set of stamps that I created to mark common problems in papers I grade.

My problem is twofold: I grade on more than one machine and I would like to make these stamps available to other instructors. But I can't find an easy way to move the entire set of stamps from one machine to another. Acrobat's import feature lets you bring them in one at a time, name them, and assign them to a category, but that's a slow process. I can't even figure out how to sort them so they show up alphabetically by name.

I've sometimes resorted to importing each stamp graphic and naming it manually. But there has to be a better way.

Extending the life of a Pentium D desktop via a processor swap?

killdevil — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 11:44:26 -0800

Can I extend the life of my aging Dell XPS desktop by means of a processor swap? Details within. I have a late-2005-era Dell XPS 400 with a 3.2GHz Pentium D and a Dell-branded mainboard featuring (according to CPU-Z) an Intel i945P/PL/G/GZ chipset.

Is it possible to swap the Pentium D for a Core 2 Duo? If it's possible, is it also a sensible thing to do? I'm trying to avoid shelling out for a new desktop for another 1.5 years or so.

Inventory Management solution

Raichle — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 13:34:33 -0800

I'm looking for a free or really cheap inventory management system. I need to be able to easily add and modify existing inventory and print invoices based off that inventory.. Nothing too exciting.. It would be helpful if it played nicely with Peachtree, but that isn't necessary. This computer will not be on the Internet so I need a solution that can be hosted or locally installed on a Windows or Ubuntu machine.

Bachelor of Science in Applied Computing Jobs?

stlboi — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 14:13:30 -0800

What kind of jobs can I get with a Bachelor of Science in Applied Computing from ASU? My ultimate goal right now is to one day become a professional Information Technology employee for a major corporation/company.

I enrolled at Arizona State University for Fall 2008. I plan to major in Applied Computing, because it seems the closest program that's related to Information Technology. Here's a link to the description of the program:

http://newcollege.asu.edu/programs/app_comp/

Did I make a right choice in degree programs?

What other kind of jobs can I get with an Applied Computing degree?

Any idea which concentration of Applied Computing generally generates the most income on average? You can see there are three concentrations where you can only pick one to study. I have interests in all three, so I want to just pick the one which will have the most potential for higher income.

Any info/advice would help! Thanks in advance!

Automagic FTP Upload

booticon — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 13:33:06 -0800

Is there a simple program out there that you can drag a file onto that will automagically upload to a pre-configured FTP server and copy the URL to the clipboard? I was previously using OSX 10.5.1 and fell in love with Dockdrop. As it implies (and as I mentioned previously), you configure it with FTP information (server/path/username/pass), and it'll sit on your dock. You drag a file to it, it'll upload and copy the URL to your clipboard right away. Googling has come up with nothing. Bonus points if the program has the capability of uploading to predefined directories based on filetype (ie, .jpg/.gif/.png will /images, .zip/.rar to /downloads).

Running Vista x64 right now. Thinking the Windows equivalent would be something that would sit in your system tray.

Ulead VideoStudio Editing

divabat — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 20:17:54 -0800

Trying to make a video in Ulead VideoStudio, but am stymied on a few things. Help? I was using Windows Movie Maker but found it too limited, so I'm using Ulead VideoStudio instead. It's good so far, but I'm stuck on a couple of things:

1. Most of my scenes involve text scrolling on screen. Problem is, as soon as the text stop scrolling, it goes into the next scene too quickly. How do I make the scene with the full text stay on screen for at least a second, instead of quickly transitioning away?

2. I've got a scene which has a list. I want each item on the list to show up one by one, building the list eventually (pretty much what Powerpoint does with bulleted lists). How do I do this in VideoStudio?

I realize that my project may be easier made in Powerpoint, since it seems more like a pseudo-slideshow, but for various reasons this has to be a video. I haven't had much success in looking for tutorials. What should I do?

Can you help me decide between (used) PDA's, Smartphones, Pocket PCs and the year 2008?

thewhynotgirl — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 13:47:00 -0800

Can you help me decide between PDA's, Smartphones, Pocket PCs and the year 2008? I am looking most specifically for info on the Sony Clie PEG NX70V ... IPAQ 4350 ... and IPAQ 2215. But advice on any of this would be immensely helpful! I did search AskMeFi, but found only info for new equipment or old posts. I'm talking used equipment instead, older but able to keep up with current software stuff. (More inside) I'm interviewing for work as a personal assistant, something I did for years, but haven't done in years. A couple of interviewers suggested (strongly) that I might find a PDA useful, so I responded to a few online community for sale ads; I was most impressed by the IPAQ's 4350 and 2215, that were $175 and $90 used. On the phone, on the way home, I found out that my husband has a pda in the house, older and barely used. It's a Sony Clie PEG NX70V.

Now here's my questions, as I did not know that we already had one. I need to compare it to those. I've pulled it out and it's working fine. The question is, is it outdated? Or is it fully sufficient for my needs? If any of you know anything about them both, better than what I've been able to figure out online, that would be cool.

This Clie has a swivel tablet top, which is useful and cool, and I haven't been able to figure out whether the IPAQ's do. I liked the IPAQ because it seemed to offer more of what a small PC would ... but now I see that there is tons of freeware available for the palm, and that the clie is a palm; plus, in the reviews raving about the IPAQ's, it was said that their keyboards were "almost as good as" the Clie's. Hmmm.

The IPAQ uses a standard SD card -- I can't tell the max size, but this is the year 2008, where apps and media eat up memory ...and this Clie accepts only a memory stick, and only up to 128mb. Are they even available anymore? Is that enough for my needs?

My needs are a todo list and appointment calendar, as close to GTD style as I can make them; MSword or equivalent, and a way of viewing docs and pdfs and, hopefully, web pages. I don't mind syncing them from my laptop and transferring them, but I can't figure out how well either the IPAQ or the CLIE do these things.

With a laptop and car inverter, I've never even bothered to use the browser on my cell phone, I've just opened my laptop whereever I am and found a connection that way. But now, for these jobs, it is apparently better for me to use something handheld, like a PDA ... so I'm not really sure of what the action is for getting webstuff, nor of the cost of doing so ... my wireless laptop doesn't cost me anything to do this ... will the PDA or the Pocket PC cost me to use the WIFI cards?

The Clie comes with a video/still camera and mp3 player ... am I silly for thinking, well I already have portable hardware for those things ... I figure I can save on the PDA battery and memory by NOT using it for those, but that means that I'd be carrying three items with me instead of one.

For that matter, am I silly for not going ahead and buying a smartphone? As I understand it, that would mean carrying one thing instead of four things -- but again, I am HUNTING for a job, and since I already own a laptop, LG CU500 cell phone, 1GB mp3 player, SmallWonder video camera (which records 5 hours at a stretch!) and, now, this Clie PDA ...well even though the IPAQ pda's are "only" $90 and $175 respectively, and a smartphone would likely be around $250 ... I could save all of that money by using what I've got and not buying anything till AFTER I've had the paying job for a while. These items are all old execpt for the Small wonder, but that was only $100 -- $120 with the 2GB SD card, and let's face it, that's an amazing price for a 3x5 inch video camera that lets you record 5 hours at a a stretch -- I'm an amateur journalist in my off-time, so I felt that was a great investment.

Well! While I digressed there, I guess I answered my own question as to whether I should get one now ... common sense tells me "no" unless there is something glaringly wrong with the Sony Clie PEG NX70v or it's 128gb memory stick is something to laugh about ... but if any of you could compare IPAQ's pocket pc's to it, or know of other specifics, or could even point me to some good software for it -- productivity apps, logic type games (backgammon or word game or puzzle game stuff) and writer's apps ... that would be cool. And nice of you. Thank you for reading through all of this as I ramble. I've been up hours in those interviews and now in a quick search for comparison info and these billion questions are the ones that are still dancing round my brain.

Thanks for any insight.

-TWNG

How can I get an "average" of several images?

k7lim — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 10:57:24 -0800

How can I generate a "visual average" from a group of digital images?

A few years ago, I saw a BoingBoing post in which a guy had taken the pixel means of Playboy centerfolds for several decades. I'd like to use the same technique and am wondering if there's any off-the-shelf (preferably free) stuff that can do that.

Why does my computer keep freezing?

chorltonmeateater — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 16:05:07 -0800

Why does my Windows XP machine freeze every half an hour? My computer has taken to freezing after about half an hour or so of use, forcing me to switch it off and on to get it working again. When the PC does this, it stops responding to anything I do with the mouse and keyboard, and the CPU fan starts whirring away, but I can't work out what process is causing this major CPU use, and so the freezing problem.

It started at about the same time that I started using a U3 USB stick and installed Acronis True Image 11, but I have removed/uninstalled both these pieces of software and still the problem occurs. Even a system restore roll-back to a point before the problem occurred has done nothing to help.

Any ideas on what might be causing this, or at least how I can begin to find what the culprit might be? I'm running Windows XP SP2 (intermittently, at least).

How many electrons in each processor cycle?

Jimbob — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 05:04:01 -0800

In a modern CPU, how many individual electrons, approximately, are "let through" in each clock-cycle of, say, an individual transistor or logic gate? Are we close to managing the paths of individual electrons? Or are we still shuffling around millions of the little blighters in each transistor in each tick of a 2ghz processor?