Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with format

Copying a CF card written in a special format

exogenous — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 09:57:58 -0800

Cloning a CF card written in a proprietary format. Seeking suggestions for USB card reader, software, etc. I want to make one backup copy of a valuble compact flash card that is written in a proprietary format. I can access the CF card under Windows XP using proprietary software, but only using an (out-of-production) ImageMate SDDR 31 that has been modified with special firmware. This PDF has a few details but is probably not very helpful.

Needless to say the proprietary software isn't set up to let me make my backup. Under Windows Explorer the card doesn't appear to have any contents.

I don't know the capacity of the CF card off hand but it's not very large, 512 MB or less. I plan on finding this out and getting the a matching blank CF card.

I have Ubuntu installed and reckon that linux will probably be the way to go. I am semi-comfortable with the OS. I also have access to a newish Mac Mini.

I'm currently thinking about trying ddrescue possibly together with a second CF card reader. But I'm not sure if my modified CF card reader (1) is absolutely required to read and write the special CF card, or if (2) linux will like the modified CF card reader. I haven't done much experimentation, partly out of fear of trashing the expensive card and/or card reader.

I'd like any recommendations for well-supported CF card readers that might be able to ensure I can get the data off all the nooks and crannies of the CF card. I'd also appreciate advice on software for cloning the disc, etc.

To preempt our resident copyright police, the backup is legal under 17 USC 117.

Since when are harddrives actually the size advertised?

mathiu — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 04:07:07 -0800

Since when are harddrives actually the size advertised? I just bought a Western Digital 500 GB 2.5'' HD and I was surprised when it actually turned out to be 499.32 GB after the first initialization (on a mac). When has this changed? And what story/company was behind the adaption?

My Taxes paid for that satellite... can I at least have pix?

tmcw — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 16:43:15 -0800

I want to download a bit of Landsat data - two small countries worth - but can't find any way to efficiently do this via GloVis or elsewhere. Where can I just select places on a map (or use my GloVis-exported) scene list to download these in bulk? Given 200MB/scene and the 80 scenes I need, it'll be 15.6 gigs downloaded (and likely around 40 unzippped), but that's not the problem; there just doesn't seem to be a way to do this. Also, huge bonus for any source that offers even a rough natural color (simulated) version of these files so that I don't have to do the merging myself. GeoTIFF is probably the format I'm going for (I'm using a completely open-source stack, and may have access to an ArcGIS install, but it's way way inconvenient for me).

Yes, this is an obscenely specific and obscure question. I guess I am testing the outskirts of askmeta utility by asking this one, but seeing all of these interfaces to the data and high prices and all of this bs, I have a feeling that smart people must know a better way to get lots of this data in a good form quickly.

Thanks!

How to find out Mac creator / type info on a PC?

jzed — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 02:24:03 -0800

Is there a windows utility to read the creator / type information of old (pre OSX) mac files? I've inherited a lot of old mac files (probably .eps or old .ai's or something but I'm not really sure at this point) and I'm trying to get them open on my windows machine. I think I probably have the most likely applications I'll need to open them, but brute force guessing what program to try is time consuming. Is there a straightforwards (preferably freeware) utility to help automate this process? My googling has revealed this util which looks... a bit unwieldy; and this mac app which would do the job if it ran on windows!

How to format old boot drive in XP when it is no longer the boot drive?

teg4rvn — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 16:06:07 -0800

How do I format a non-boot hard drive without taking it out? Have been constantly upgrading my PC over time. First hard drive was a 160 GB IDE drive with WinXP. When I needed more space I bought a 640 GB SATA drive and installed WinXP, made it the boot drive, and kept the 160 GB in the system. I then bought a third drive (640 GB SATA) and connected it. I'd now like to wipe the 160 GB drive clean, but when I try to format it, I get an error stating I cannot format it and am asked to quit any disk utilities that are using the drive or to close any windows that are displaying any of the drive's contents. Is there a way I could do this?

Resources for creating a good, extensible file format

SilentSalamander — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 22:35:32 -0800

My team and I are writing a computer application for which aspects of the file format are very likely to change in future releases. The format is in XML. Does anyone know any resources on the web that lays down general principles about how to make a file format that is as extensible as possible for the future (and minimizes the possibility of cross-version breakage)?

My skills with Word are not as advanced as I thought they were..

royalsong — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 07:07:51 -0800

[WordProcessingFilter] I need this document formatted a specific way. Bare with me as I try to explain. I don't want the the text beside the date to wrap under the numbers. If it must wrap, I want it to wrap under the first word of the line before it. I know I can do this with tables, but I kind of need to do this asap (I stupidly told the client that it would take me less than an hour). If I must do it with tables, is there a way to limit Microsoft Word's Find/Replace tool to say: replace ONLY first space in a paragraph with a tab character?

Is there another way to do it?

Help me hive mind!

Ho to make photoshop save photos?

-harlequin- — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 13:02:23 -0800

How can I save JPG images in Photoshop CS so that a digital camera can read them? Cheap crappy software can do this easily, but no matter what file settings I use in Photoshop, I've never been able to get any of my digital cameras to be able to read any JPG that was written by Photoshop - I have to load and re-save them with other piece of software to get them to work. Surely there is a way to make Photoshop save JPG files that cameras can read? My impression is that (naming conventions and so forth aside) there is a JPEG standard that most or nearly all cameras read, rather than every camera having it's own random special requirements.

I want a way to start saving files in that standard, because I'll be using a camera as an image storage/display device, and want to load the memory card with images and graphics in addition to photos it has taken, but right now, I have to individually process each file to do this, or the camera won't read it, and it's driving me nuts.
(I also don't want to save as RAW or TIFF)

Thanks!

Please Help Me eMail my Videos via OSX Mail

konig — Sat, 09 May 2009 17:59:28 -0800

I want to send YouTube and other videos via email after I've download them. I am using OSX 10.5.6 and v3.5 Mail. I have a QT Pro license, so I can convert the format once the video is downloaded. I would like for friends who use PCs and those who use Macs to be able to play the videos. My questions are:

1) In what format should the video be when I send it, so that users of both platforms are able to enjoy the video?

2) If a PC user tells me that they cannot view the video, what application should I advise they obtain in order to do so. (I am not going to try to troubleshoot their PC, I just want to tell them that they need "X" program in order to play the movie.)

3) Is there any other info that I need to be aware of, from your experience, to do this as seamlessly as possible?

I have done a lot of searching for these answers and cannot seem to find them. I sincerely appreciate your assistance in advance!

Recommend a printer

BeaverTerror — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 11:20:21 -0800

Please recommend a colour printer that prints 11x17" sheets. My HP 9800 was stolen this week, so I'm in the market for another wide format printer. Please help me pick one and give reasons for why you recommend it. I'd like it to be below $500 Canadian. Thank you!

#,###

lou — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 09:21:00 -0800

I need a custom number format for Excel that only gives me a decimal when I need it. What I have: a list of numerical data from 0 to, say, 9999. I want it to display with commas (ie "1,234"). Easy enough. But some of these numbers have a .5 after, as in, "1,234.5". I want to tell Excel to display the numbers, with comma, and display the .5 only when required. I do NOT want it to use a .0 for the integers.

I can get close to what I want with the format "#,##0.#" but then the period is on every number, which is also undesirable.

There must be an easy way of doing this, but I'm tired of trying to find it. Thanks in advance!

Help me see the original format of the blogs I subscribe to.

kgreerRN — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 14:19:02 -0800

Is there an RSS reader (or something along those lines) that will allow me to view the blog in its original format? I subscribe to Google Reader, which I love, however I miss not seeing the blog formats and colors and side links to other blogs and extras. The side links are my favorite! Like hidden treasures, but overall I would like a way to preserve the intended view of the blog while organizing them into one place! Too much to ask? Or do I need to go back to my handy dandy favorites list...that I can only view from my own computer?

How do I view .csv files IN Firefox in a nice fixed-width column format?

shmooly — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 10:11:14 -0800

How do I view .csv (comma-separated values) files IN Firefox in a nice fixed-width column format? By default Firefox asks me what to do when I ask it to open a .csv file (some may have it set to open in Excel). I downloaded the lovely Open in Browser Firefox extension , and this lets me open the file as source in Firefox, so I'm halfway there.

However the top row containing the fields doesn't match up with the values since it's being displayed as plain text, as opposed to a spreadsheet-like format. My question is: is there any way to view .csv files inside Firefox, in text, with nice grid-like formatting?

Why do I want to use Firefox and not Excel or some other application? Because I'm monitoring a long-running process that's outputting a .csv file and I want to periodically be updated on its progress, check the values, etc. without causing read-write conflicts. While there's probably things outside of Firefox, I would prefer to keep it inside the browser.

Thanks!

Losing my hard-drive virginity

alona — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 05:14:56 -0800

n00bfilter: formatting hard drive, need all the help I can get! Specifically with Windows XP. everything inside... So I have a nice computer that is about 5 years old and is in dire need of a fresh start. I'm relatively tech-savvy but have never done this before.

Here is what I need:
1. My brother formatted this computer sometime in the distant past, or did something, and for this reason my computer is running an unvalidated copy of Windows XP Pro. I do not have a windows installation cd. How do I get one without paying? (Maybe this is a politically incorrect question to be asking; if so, I apologize).

2. Because of the explained reasons, my computer doesn't have Office, and I would really like to have office after I reformat, how do I do this if I don't have a CD?

3. You guys probably have a lot more experience, so other than following a lot of internet guides, what should I know going into this? What problems might I encounter and how do I know how to handle them?

4. My house is linked up with a wireless router. My computer is hooked up via cable, but there is another laptop in the house that accesses the internet wirelessly. Will it be able to surf the web even while I format my desktop computer?

5. Related internet question: How problematic is it going to be to get the internet up and running again on the computer after I format? Specifically, what are the steps to getting reconnected to the web?

Important information:
I have 512mb installed memory, 80 gig hard drive, 2.4 gigahertz Pentium 4, I have my current XP version's CD key but as I mentioned it's not a legit copy and I don't have it on a cd.
I do have all the cds for the hardware that's currently connected to my computer (mainly my printer). Also used Belarc adviser to figure out everything I need, and burned all the stuff I want to back up onto DVDs.

So, now what?

I need help with this creation.

CollectiveMind — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 08:01:55 -0800

I have invented a calendar that I think is unique in design and function. Last year, I spent six months reviewing copyrights and patents (and applications) from the US Patent and Trademark Office and US Copyright Office office and didn't see or read anything that fits it. I've since filed for a patent and a copyright. I'm told I'll get one or the other since it is either art or a device, but not both.
I think its design is to the standard calendar as the Reverse Polish Notation Calculator is to the standard calculator. I mean, it's initially confusing, but once you get used to it, it's much more efficient. To me, this means it would only appeal to a niche market, but probably a strong and loyal niche market - engineers, actuaries, event planners, etc.

My main question is, how can I get it printed for distribution and in front of my niche? I frequent a lot of thrift stores, and last week, barely missed buying an HP Large Format Printer for under $100. The office supply stores and online printers, by contrast, charge about $8 per sq. foot for the kind of color it has. And because I think it must be at least wall poster size to be of practical use, that makes the cost of each one nearly $70. That seems to much forthe market to bear. Does anybody know how I can reproduce this and get it circulating (and among whom) in the market, either by finding a cheap, large format printer or a cheap means for digital or offset printing?

Looking for Digital Scanner stuff

CollectiveMind — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 19:16:18 -0800

Where can I find a control board and software for a wide format digital scanner? I have a Xerox XEScan YWC-1. I need the Fireboard 400 card for the plug in, the Scanner Firmware Version 2.1.9 and the XEScan 1.0 software. I've gone online to warehouses that list it all but show them as "out of stock" since forever. I've called Xerox, but they say they it's discontinued. For as many as these that were sold, I can't believe nobody anywhere doesn't have what I need. Here's what the system looks like - http://www.arescoinc.com/Xerox%20Xes%20Scan%20page.html (I've called them too, BTW). Help.

Driving me insane

idiomatika — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 15:34:40 -0800

Dull computer question: I just reinstalled Windows XP Professional onto my laptop computer. Two devices in the Device Manager display the dreaded yellow question mark. They do not appear to be on the driver support disc that came with the computer. These two items are: "Network Controller" and "PCI Device". Does anyone know where I could find suitable drivers?

.ivr without Realplayer?

juv3nal — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 14:57:27 -0800

Is there anything free besides Realplayer that will play (or convert to some other format) Realplayer's .ivr files?

"Sorry I lost all of your data..."

Anonymous — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 08:11:42 -0800

I was working on someone's laptop and all of their data has been overwritten. How do I break it to them gently? They had a funky video problem; initially it seemed that reinstalling the OS would be necessary, and the owner balked at the idea of having to backup / restore data and reinstall apps (which I'd certainly do, for a fee).

The video problem began appearing in safe mode and BIOS, so I was able to get the motherboard replaced using depot repair. I explained that I'd be able to remove "the" hard drive before sending it in, so he wouldn't lose anything.

In my rush to get it sent in quickly at the end of a long day, I removed "the" hard drive but as it turns out, this laptop had two drives and the one I removed was blank, and in no danger...

So yeah, they replaced the motherboard, and wiped / reimaged the primary drive (which really wasn't necessary, !$#*!# but I expected as much).

I consider myself pretty competent and just did a shoddy job here. It sucks big-time; I am very contrite but need to broach the subject gently. I'm thinking I'll ask "so, did you know that your laptop has two hard driveS?" because I'm pretty sure he doesn't. Would've been nice to tell me when I said "I'll remove *the* hard drive for you" but I know it really wasn't hard to miss and I just wasn't thinking about it.

I know he has an external drive but I suspect he hasn't been backing up.

Typically, the geek answer is "you're responsible for your data above all else, and should've backed it up before the laptop left your hands." The video problem didn't make the laptop 100% unusable, so he could've done this (and he was familiar with Safe Mode, and had been using it just fine).

However, I consider myself trustworthy and competent, and imagine myself to be "that person" you entrust your laptop with, knowing they'll carefully back everything up twice before wiping anything out, and maybe even keep your 30GB worth of personal data for awhile (disclosed, of course) or burn it to DVD, saving your rear when you manage to blow it away.

This was a huge mistake, a learning experience for both parties, and I'm dreading the conversation.

I'm pretty sure the odds of recovery are about nonexistent: format, re-image, boom. I don't know how many "motions I should go through" to demonstrate this, whether I should be paying for software that has little to no chance of doing anything, or what sort of liability I should try to accept for causing the problem. I'm certainly not planning to charge for time spent troubleshooting and coordinating the repair.

Windows CD does not see my Hard Drive... help

yoyoceramic — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 11:13:43 -0800

For a friend... who has a virus on their gateway laptop, and the windows boot disk tells me the hard drive is not found... suggestions on formatting the disk? Basically, I am trying to format their disk to prepare it to re install windows on it, however the Windows CD does not even recognize my friend's hard drive, thus I cannot proceed to format the disk. Any reasons as to why this may be? More importantly, do you have any suggestions?

Best easy way to print photos from a Diana Camera?

pinkbungalow — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 07:10:08 -0800

I'm wondering about Medium Format 120 film processing and printing for a Diana Camera? I love the way photos from the Diana Camera look, and I'm looking for a fun creative outlet. I am wondering if this will work the way I think it will... after shooting a roll of film, can I take it to a photo developing place and just have the film developed, then use a flatbed scanner that will do film and negatives to scan to my mac and print myself?

I am not interested in handling chemicals etc. so I can't develop the film myself. If this will work, any suggestions for the best inexpensive scanner?
If this won't work - what options do I have or am I stuck just paying a lab to develop and print?

Ubuntu text format

amsterdam63 — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 15:35:17 -0800

How can I convert a text file with characters representing hexadecimal to binary in Ubuntu? I know there are websites with conversion calculators, but I want to be able to take a text file and output another text file with binary representations of the hex from the input file. Thanks for any help.

decoding 10bit video

shino-boy — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 11:14:58 -0800

Decoding a 10bit video file ain't easy... I own an HD camera mod that records uncompressed 8bit and 10bit video files directly to a Mac's HDD. The camera company provided software to capture and render the video files. The rendering software never worked correctly with the 10bit files and we were waiting for an updated release. The company was sold and the rendering software was *not* updated and is now no longer supported.

:(

I wondered how hard it would be to write a Quicktime component under OS X 10.4 to directly read both the 8bit and 10bit files.

I bought some red, green and blue felt from the art store and recorded 8bit and 10bit clips of each color on an overcast day.

Starting with the 8bit files, I used a hex viewer to examine the "red" video file, and saw numbers like this (converted to decimal):

114 31 32 112 29 32 [...]

Well, that was easy. A quick check of the "green" video file confirmed that the byte order of each pixel is stored R G B. And indeed, my codec can now open successfully open an 8bit file. Hooray! But wait...

Using the same hex viewer I peek at the 10bit "red" video file, which was recorded using the same exposure as the 8bit file so I kind of know what numbers to expect, and I get this (again converted to decimal):

212 245 129 137 120 123 44 130 156 32 142 136 71 200 34 [...]

The italics are mine, they are (kinda) the R G B values I'm looking for, I just didn't expect them to show up like that. I've seen examples of how 10bit DPX image files are packed but the pattern I see in my files just doesn't make sense to me.

Do they make sense to anyone else? I really want to use these 10bit files, and if I can figure out the R G B pattern I'll be good to go.

For the record I did email the rendering software's developer asking for a hint. He did not reply.

Which font format?

amtho — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 11:19:11 -0800

Which font format should I buy? MyFonts.com's FAQ suggests that OpenType is the wave of the future and the first truly cross-platform format. But I want to be sure that what I get will work with all my older software, older Mac OS (as well as my main Win XP machine), and wherever I get things printed. I'm about to purchase one font, but I buy fonts occasionally and would like a general rule of thumb. Different formats are available for the same price, but I must choose one and only one format for this font (the lovely "Sky Serif"). I also wonder if the format used affects embedding in PDF.

software: I've got good old Photoshop 5.5 (running on Win XP), an older Mac we have (OSX 10.early), and Kinko's should I send something there. I also use a Windows program called "PDF995" to print to PDF sometimes.

I also use a freeware program called "FontLister" which I *know* won't support OpenType, but I'm thinking of replacing that anyway. Still, it's another nudge toward buying TTF instead of OpenType.

The Mac compatibility isn't that crucial, since we're probably getting a new Mac soon.

Maybe I'm worried over nothing; do all these Windows programs jsut use font "services" provided by the OS? I just wonder whether Photoshop loads the fonts itself -- I know it will do so if fonts are in its own directory.

TTF is attractive as a fallback, but apparently there are sometimes "extra features" in OpenType fonts -- and TTF may not be truly cross-platform.

I know I can convert fonts to different formats -- I just Googled and found several options -- but I've done this before and it's not always smooth/easy. And it's a pain anyway.

Mainly I'm wondering if anyone has had problems using an OpenType font in a specific situation. Any reason not to get OpenType?

Sunday computer problems..... ahhh yeah.

thatguyryan — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 09:29:09 -0800

First time with formatting partitions or installing linux. I bought a new 200gb harddrive for my laptop. I put it in, and created 3 partitions - Drive C: a 30 gb on which i installed xp, Drive D: a 30 gb on which i plan to install for the first time a linux (maybe ubuntu), and Drive E: a 126 gb partition which i intend to house files i will want to access from either OS. At this point, everything is fine except.... that 3rd (126 gb) partition is RAW and windows right-click to format doesn't give me an option to format in FAT -only in NTFS. Am I correct that if I want to use that drive to read and write files from with both ubuntu and xp i should probably (as a noob) make it be FAT? Should the xp partition be FAT ? (It's NTFS right now.) The one i plan on being for the ubuntu is FAT32. If that third large partition needs to be FAT, how can i do that? As with all computer-solution-needed situations, easy is great; free is best. Thank you so much. Long live metafilter.