rvalkass

In my experience, I would disagree. A PC's hardware is just as stable as a Mac's - generally stability problems are caused by software. The big difference to me is in upgrading the PC down the line. For example, when the CPU in my current PC gets a bit slow for the latest software, I can simply pop it out and stick a new one in. With a Mac, that isn't really an option. The same goes for new standards such as SATA 6GB/s and USB 3.0. With my PC, these can be added with PCI or PCIe cards - all made to a standard and just slot in. In a Mac that can't happen, so if you want USB 3.0 or SATA 6GB/s you have to replace the entire machine. That's just a massive waste, pain and expense. The same goes for repairs. Parts will eventually fail, whether through bad luck or simply wear and tear. It'll happen in both a PC and a Mac, and it happens at roughly the same rate. Let's say a hard drive fails. In my PC, I can go to any one of a large number of physical and online shops, buy a new HDD and have it fitted within the hour. With a Mac, it's a huge hassle to the point you actually have to send the thing off to have it repaired, at huge expense and inconvenience of not having your machine for weeks. The GUI is entirely personal preference, but it isn't really all that important. You can make Windows look like a Mac, make a Mac look like Windows, and make KDE look like anything you feel like. User-friendliness depends on your situation. For example, I find Apple mice baffling - why can't you right click? But the same could be applied to someone used to Apple mice using a normal one for the first time - "Why on earth do you have this second button?". Windows tries to get stuff done quickly, but sometimes becomes over complicated. Apple tried to get stuff done simply, but often goes too far, making everything more difficult. Linux tries to give you complete control, but can therefore sometimes feel initially overwhelming.

Neither. Have a look at the HTC Evo:http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/ you just want a media player with a touch screen then there are better devices out there than an iPod Touch.If you need a phone with inbuilt media player then the range of phones from HTC are far superior to anything Apple has churned out, and they're cheaper.

Please read the pinned topic to see your requirement(s) in Request Free Sig Or Banner section. Click here In the mean time please improve your post quality and continue to contribute quality posts.

Please read the pinned topic to see your requirement(s) in Request Free Sig Or Banner section. Click here In the mean time please improve your post quality and continue to contribute quality posts.

If you initiate a spin then you have lost control of the vehicle. That is the last thing you want to do. Turning the engine off, in most cars, will mean you lose any braking you did have, ABS and power steering. You will also lose any traction control systems, stability management or other driver aids just when you need them - in an emergency!

Basically, yes. Most designers create an image of what they want the final site to look like in software such as Photoshop or The GIMP. This gives you complete graphical control over the design and the power of your graphics software, while also being able to see what the finished site will look like at all times. Your canvas should be as big as it needs to be. I know that sounds like a very un-helpful answer, but let me explain. If you want to create a website that is, let's say, fixed width at 720px then you will only want a canvas slightly wider than that (say, 760px). If, however, you want your site design to be fluid-width (filling the user's screen widthways) then you will want to choose a fairly wide size just so you can fit all your design elements on the screen. You will later use CSS to repeat various backgrounds horizontally and vertically, so you can make elements change size dynamically in the final coded template. The image you create in your graphics software is a guide, an impression of the final design. As for the height of your canvas, make it as tall as you need to have a comfortable working environment and to fit all the different elements into your design. As I've said, you'll use CSS to make elements expand to accommodate the text and images you want them to hold in the final template, so the sizes in your mock-up aren't all that important. The 72dpi setting is just because most monitors work at 72dpi but the setting is largely irrelevant. The important number is the number of pixels width and height for your image. Elements such as images, text, Flash, etc. are all added at the HTML stage. The only images that appear in your graphical mock-up are ones common to every page of your website. If you want to add example text and images to your design (a good idea to get a realistic look) then generate some placeholder text and use a random stock image to take the place of the real image. The generic placeholder for elements you intend to add later (such as Flash) is usually a box with a large cross drawn through it (such as this: http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/ ) but there is no specific reason to use that. If a grey box with "Flash Video Here" written on it works for you, use it - no-one will see it on your website. I would not get yourself bogged down in specifics like this while making the template unless you are creating a design which has to be pixel-perfectly replicated in the HTML for some reason. The form is created in the HTML code and will look different between different browsers and operating systems, so you can't really design it in your graphics software. You should slice your design so that each separate repeated image is cut separately. For example, if you have a box with a gradient background, cut that out separately from the rest of the design. A pattern underneath your header image? Cut that out separately. You will also need each element you want clickable (such as menu buttons) cut separately, so each image can be clicked individually. This is determined by whether you've created a fluid- or fixed-width design. If your design is fluid (like this forum) it will expand widthways to fill the user's browser window, no matter what size they make it. If a design is fixed-width it will remain the same size on all browser windows, gaining space either side if the browser is bigger, or requiring horizontal scrolling if the browser window is smaller. If you create a fluid design you don't need to leave any blank space as the user will never see any. If you create a fixed design, you will need to plan what you're going to fill the empty space on the left and right of your design with. Most people use a plain background colour or pattern, but more recently people are using large images and photographs as backgrounds to great effect.

The latest versions of the Ubuntu family of operating systems were released yesterday.http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/ new features (in Kubuntu) include improved Netbook usability, an improved installation process, vastly updated package manager, a brand new web browser and improved Bluetooth and audio device support. Pretty much every package has also been updated to the latest and greatest version.Anyone upgraded yet?

Whichever method you use will require you to select the files you want to copy in some way, so will be no faster or easier for you than copying and pasting. If the filenames of the files you want to copy follow a particular pattern then you can use command line tools to find them and copy them, which would be much easier for you. However, like I said, it only works if all the filenames follow a pattern (ie. you want to copy all .ODF, .ODS, .JPG and .PNG files, or all files with the format aaa11111.jpg). If you plan on regularly backing up then you may want to look into automated backup software - that way you need to specify the files and folders you want backed up only once, and it will repeat that task however often you set it to. I wrote a tutorial about it on here actually:http://forums.xisto.com/topic/62460-my-new-backup-solution-kind-of-a-reviewadvice/?p=417992__

No, you've got that the wrong way round. On Linux the only programs that require root privileges are those which affect major system settings or install new software. The dialogue therefore appears very rarely - installing software is the only place I see it. And that's good. I want some warning that software is being installed - if that dialogue pops up without me trying to do a task requiring root access, I know something is wrong. On Windows that screen pops up constantly. On my sister's Vista laptop, for example, the pre-installed HP software that started on login required administrator privileges to run (for no good reason). As did the anti-virus software. And the firewall. And loads of other stuff. In fact, so much stuff requires it that my sister now pays no attention to what the dialogue actually says and just types her password regardless. That has made security and usability worse! If you are a power user or administrator then you are running with constant privileges allowing all sorts of changes to your machine, by any software, without your knowledge. Good luck with that. .NET and DirectX have constant updates and bugfixes from Microsoft - look at the history of Windows Update if you want proof. Confusing DEB and RPM files should never really happen as the package management software does everything automatically. Dependency hell, for the record is: "I need to install package X. To install package X I need package Y. But to install Y I need X..." and getting stuck in an infinite loop. That doesn't happen on modern distributions any more. I've got to go off to uni now but I'll be back

Because this topic is discussing the use and user-friendliness of free operating systems. It seems that some people see the subtle differences in Windows and Linux folder architecture as a major usability issue. Which is why people use Linux Why should it matter to me which physical hard drive or logical partition my data is held on when I am saving my documents? File organisation is identical on Windows and Linux systems - a tree of folders. When you try to install software on Linux, and root privileges are required, the following graphical dialogue appears: You type your password and carry on. Any Linux distribution aimed at the average home user uses a similar system. One which was copied by Microsoft for Windows: I think you'll find .NET and DirectX are both updated far more frequently than that as part of Windows Update. Each update on Linux does not require new versions of g++ and gcc. Two distributions would never clash - you can't install two distributions like that. Furthermore that is not the definition of dependency hell. https://blog.canonical.com/2011/04/05/shipit-comes-to-an-end/ among others

Well, files are organised in the same way as any other operating system. So, for example, I have folders such as /home/rob/Photographs and /home/rob/University Work each containing sub folders to organise them further. If I then want to organise the files further (such as separating RAW camera images from JPEGs) I can sort by file type in the file browser. I can also apply other filters and searches. You are never forced to use the command line for anything. In fact, I mainly use it for running whois queries simply because it's quicker than waiting for a website to load When people use the command line they use it because they find it quicker and easier. With respect to the "easy to remember" paths on Windows - there is no need for that sort of thing on Linux. I have my home directory on a separate partition. Linux handles that behind the scenes so that the standard path of /home/username always works. I could move the home directory to a completely separate disk and it would still be handled invisibly. There's no need to remember a random drive letter. However, if /home/rob is still a bit hard to remember, you can always create a symlink (shortcut) to it so you can use something like /rob instead. No. No. And no. You're not forced to use the command line at any stage. Software dependencies (which exist in Windows too) are handled automatically by the package management software. Offline software installation is possible and quite popular - see the DVDs that distributions ship out containing their distribution and all available software packages for those with limited/no Internet access. See above comments about shipped DVDs to answer the first paragraph. Viruses are very rare on Linux systems, and the few that do exist can do very little damage due to the way the OS is designed. Browser problems are just that - problems with the browser, so they exist on any version of that browser - Linux, Apple and Windows. If software, for whatever reason, fails to install then the OS seamlessly rolls back to before the installation started. It is, however, very rare for software installation to fail. And dependency hell pretty much disappeared when package management systems came in - they manage the dependencies for you.

Consider how the average computer user buys their computer. They walk into a shop (or an online retailer) and buy a PC. It is usually loaded with Microsoft Windows by default. To get Apple's operating system you have to specifically go to Apple's shop and buy an Apple device. To get a Linux operating system you have to install it yourself. Most people simply stick with what they're given. Simple as that. Two days ago I was in a small village on the coast, in the village shop. There were two computers in the corner, for people to pay for internet access and computer use for a few minutes. I was pleasantly surprised, when someone used one of the computers, to see the familiar colours of Ubuntu. I went for a closer look, and that confirmed my suspicions - Ubuntu on these public-access PCs. The woman using the PC was not in the first flush of youth, but said the PC was very easy to use and understand. It is a matter of people not liking change. People who use Linux can find Windows and Apple a pain in the backside. People who use Macs can find Windows and Linux a pain in the backside. People who use Windows can find Macs and Linux a pain, but always find Windows to be unusable /home/rob is a bit easier to remember and type than C:\Documents and Settings\Rob\My Documents Downloading software from online repositories free and in the background to be installed automatically is much easier than spending 6 months and ~Ł500 getting a driving licence, buying a car, driving to a shop, buying software on a CD, driving it back, installing it, fighting with the anti-virus software, having a go at installing it again, then leaving the CD on the shelf for years.

Acer seem to flip somewhat randomly from the worst of the budget-end products to manufacturing some pretty decent stuff. I have managed to find the sum total of zero reviews for that monitor, except for a few user reviews on shopping sites. The specs for the monitor look good, but remember that manufacturers basically make up a few numbers and fill the specification with them. When it comes to monitors the information is very hard to test, if possible at all, due to the lack of standards. Where it is possible, the kit required is expensive and noone bothers to check. My advice would be to look at the monitor in a shop and see if the image quality is up to your standards. Also check for input lag if that is something that bothers you, the quality of the stand and screen casing, etc.

Throughout the day I haven't noticed any of my database-powered sites going offline. Accessing cPanel and purely HTML pages would be fine during a database outage as the database runs on a separate server. It sounds like the database server either went down for a while or lots its connection to the other servers for a period. At the moment it seems to be up and running fine, but I shall keep an eye on my sites.

I think quite often people get the code very wrong when trying to distort or move the letters. This results in the characters being distorted so much they move outside the boundaries of the image, yet they still remain in the computer's plaintext version of the answer. You can't see them, so can't type them, yet the computer expects them to be there. Solution: test the code better. The point of distorting the letters is to invoke some sort of human logic processing that the computer doesn't possess. When a computer tries optical character recognition it compares the shapes to known shapes in the alphabet. If they differ too much from those standard shapes then the computer gives up and can't guess what the letter is. A human, on the other hand, can say "Well, that looks like an A, but squished a bit, and curved round to the left". Unfortunately, generating the curved letters is usually done very poorly, so not even humans can solve them. Personally, I can't see why better methods for invoking "human logic" can't be used. For example, presenting an image like the following: Then asking the user "Please enter the three red characters:" The same could be done with upper and lower case characters. Or use whole words: "Which of the following is not a fruit? Apple, banana, cat, strawberry."

I think it's mainly a question of the degree of information you reveal on the Internet, and exactly what that information is. For example, I have no problem with people knowing my real name (it's my username!) and rough location. But I'm not about to post my full address and phone number online. I take the assumption that anything posted online, no matter how many passwords it is behind, can be treated as public information. This is why I have no sympathy for the sort of people who post drunken photos of themselves on social networking sites which come back to haunt them.

I offer this list of poor CAPTCHAs from The Daily WTF: http://thedailywtf.com/articles/CAPTCHAd Check out the last one on the list This is why the CAPTCHAs generated by reCAPTCHA have a "reload" button on the right hand side to select a new CAPTCHA image if the one you've been given is impossible. Originally, CAPTCHAs weren't real words, but just a string of random letters and numbers, such as NEW527. The reason words started to be used was because the distortion applied to the text was making random characters hard to read - words allow you to "fill in the gaps" if there is a character or two you can't read, and you'll still have a pretty good chance of passing the CAPTCHA. As for your attached CAPTCHA image, my answer would be: fleur-de-lis operaJ cactus

The web address is part of Microsoft.com, so it is unlikely to be pirated or a virus. The clue is the fact that the URL contains "EVAL" in the file name - it's an evaluation copy of Windows, which I think lasts for 90 days at the most. After that it shuts down every hour until you cough up the cash to Microsoft. I'm not exactly sure why the instructions have been posted above in such a cryptic manner, as you can download the trial in a variety of languages and for both x86 and x64 from Microsoft's website: https://technet.microsoft.com/library/dd349342(v=ws.10).aspx Alternatively, if you're a student, you can get a free copy of Windows Server 2008 R2 (which is basically Windows 7) from Microsoft's DreamSpark website https://imagine.microsoft.com/en-US/Home Or, of course, you could download a Linux distribution for free

I believe your formula for the rectilinear distance is incorrect. Rather than just give you the answer, see if you can work out what is wrong. Come back with your debugging attempts if you can't work it out, and I'll give you some more advice. Debugging is a valuable skill, and one you won't learn with people giving you the answers. Harsh but what I believe to be important

Prices from CeX, in exchange for cash rather than store credit: So the total value is in the region of £80, or approximately US$120.

That is likely either the product key for the version of Windows your laptop is running (it probably includes the letters "OEM" in it somewhere, if that is the case) or a product key for other software bundled with the laptop by HP. Product keys for Microsoft software are usually printed on a certificate inside the box, or on the back of the product manual. Your laptop likely came with a trial version of Microsoft Office. If that is the case, and you have used up your trial, then you have two choices: pay up for a full version of Microsoft Office, or use a free alternative. Upgrading from the trial version to the full version can be very expensive (sometimes more expensive than the laptop itself). I would suggest downloading OpenOffice. It's a completely free office suite including a word processor and spreadsheet application. It can open and save in all of Microsoft's file formats, so will work with your existing Microsoft Office documents, and allow you to save new ones if you have to.

Topic is resolved.Please PM any moderator to continue this discussion. Until then, this topic is closed.

Sierpinski's triangle - already had one in my gallery of fractals, flames and other weird images: http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/

You know where the surface area (or volume for a 3D shape) is. But any two points on the edge of the shape are separated by an infinite distance along the shape's edge. From a distance the points appear right next to each other. As you look closer, as you correctly say, you see more and more detail. That detail continues forever, adding more and more complexity to the perimeter of the shape. So, if the edge is getting more complex, and therefore longer, with no limit then it follows that the distance between any two points on the perimeter of the fractal must be separated by an infinite distance along the perimeter.

Maths can be chaotic too. Take a look at the logistic difference equation: xn+1 = R * xn * ( 1 - xn ) Looks like a perfectly logical, simple equation. Watch what happens when the value of R is changed by small amounts: Is this true chaos? Given the equation and the starting parameters, there are cases where you have little chance predicting what the outcome will be. It's like stepping out your front door, walking a few steps, then suddenly being on Mars, then in the supermarket, then on the sun, then on your sofa. Chaotic shapes also exist. Take a look at fractals - shapes with finite volume but infinite surface area. As simple to create as a sphere, but infinitely more complex and intricate.