Wikipedia:Reference desk/Computing

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Latest comment: 1 hour ago by Jpgordon in topic Download image from website
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June 14

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Turning a PNG into a PSP-readable vector

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I'm trying to turn a PNG into a vector graphic or vector object that I can open in Corel Paint Shop Pro, in order to add it into an existing vector composition inside a .pspimage file. The point is that I need it to be a vector in order to make it infinitely scalable inside PSP.

It's basically just a rectangle with two triangles attached that I've originally drawn as a vector in PSP, but because I'm physically and mentally incapable of using weird stuff like beziers or nodes, I've had to rasterize the two triangles in order to cut off two corners, ever since which I'm trying to find a way to turn the result back into a vector that PSP can actually open without rasterizing it.

NOTE: Just turning it into an SVG doesn't cut it, as once I open an SVG inside PSP, it automatically rasterizes it. Same goes for .eps and .ai, they all get immediately rasterized upon opening. 2003:DA:CF04:944:F0DB:9B1A:5CDC:69E5 (talk) 21:34, 14 June 2024 (UTC)Reply

Start again, and stay purely in vectors. It'll be quicker, and it'll look better. Andy Dingley (talk) 22:37, 14 June 2024 (UTC)Reply
Well, that's exactly the problem: I *CAN'T*, because I can't cut anything off of the triangles without turning it into raster. --2003:DA:CF04:944:F0DB:9B1A:5CDC:69E5 (talk) 22:54, 14 June 2024 (UTC)Reply
If it doesn't import vector files as vectors, perhaps it can be fooled into loading them as "preset shapes". What type of files are in your preset shapes folder (if you have at least one preset shape saved)?
Or, try WMF files. WMFs can be opened and edited as vector objects with the right options setting. "Mark the Import vector data check box." Inkscape can trace a raster image and save as WMF, in theory.  Card Zero  (talk) 02:52, 15 June 2024 (UTC)Reply
Nope, nothing doing. WMF is the very same as SVG, EPS, and AI: Once I open them, it immediately slaps me with a rasterizing dialogue. I can't export the PNG as a shape either, that option is greyed out. --2003:DA:CF04:968:C09D:B5DC:CAB5:C30D (talk) 05:48, 15 June 2024 (UTC)Reply
OMG, I *FINALLY* got to make it work! With a lot of fiddling and trial-and-error, I got to learn how to use the vector-cutting (slicing?) tool in PSP. I got it the way I wanted, but I'm so glad I don't have to use that tool again in the next few years. It's almost as terrible as beziers and nodes. --2003:DA:CF04:968:C09D:B5DC:CAB5:C30D (talk) 06:13, 15 June 2024 (UTC)Reply


June 16

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Phone app for decoding Morse code

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Last night I had a dream about an Android phone app that listened to Morse code on the phone's microphone and attempted to decode it into human-readable text. Does such an app actually exist? JIP | Talk 19:05, 16 June 2024 (UTC)Reply

A search for "Morse Code Decoder" in Google Play immediately provides an app to do that. I haven't tried the app to see if it actually works.-Gadfium (talk) 19:20, 16 June 2024 (UTC)Reply


June 18

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Python input integer

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Consider this simple Python 3 input and calculation example:

 n = input("?")
 print(n*10)

On one computer, I input 7 and I get a response 7777777777. On another computer, I input 7 and I get 70. I believe that there is an issue with the input function. On the first computer, it stores 7 as a string. On the second, it stores 7 as an integer. Is one of those the correct way it should work? Is it purposely vague? 12.116.29.106 (talk) 12:51, 18 June 2024 (UTC)Reply

input always returns a (stripped) string. So the 7777777777 behaviour is correct. If you wanted an integer, you'd have to call int on the result. I don't know where you're getting the 70 behaviour, and I can't reproduce that behaviour on python3.12 on Linux or 3.11 on Windows. -- Finlay McWalter··–·Talk 13:47, 18 June 2024 (UTC)Reply
I figured out that the machine producing the 70 result has both Python 2 and Python 3. I assumed that typing "python" would use the latest version (3), but it uses the older version (2). So, it is perhaps an issue with Python 2 auto-casting the value to an integer. 12.116.29.106 (talk) 14:36, 18 June 2024 (UTC)Reply
I checked and input in Python 3 is raw_input in Python 2. If I change the function and run it in Python 2, I get the expected 7777777777 output. 12.116.29.106 (talk) 14:39, 18 June 2024 (UTC)Reply
I expected as much (but I couldn't find an online repl with python2 to allow me to check it). You should almost certainly uninstall the python2 installation, as it hasn't had a security patch since January 1st, 2020. -- Finlay McWalter··–·Talk 14:46, 18 June 2024 (UTC)Reply

Download image from website

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I found this scan of an old map and would like to download it completely in high resolution, but there seems to be no option to do that. I tried searching the source text of the page, I installed JDownloader, but I just cannot get the image file onto my computer. The only way I see is to make screenshots of tiny portions of the map, which would be quite tedious to begin with, and then somehow put them together, but I have no idea with what program to do even that. Is there a simple solution? --Abderitestatos (talk) 19:06, 18 June 2024 (UTC)Reply

I use this website a lot. Click on Image at the top center. Then, click on the name of the image on the upper right. Sign in and you can export the full resolution map image as a tiff. 75.136.148.8 (talk) 19:57, 19 June 2024 (UTC)Reply
Thanks, but I tried this last night, and now, about 12 hours later, the export is somehow still being processed. Is it normal that it takes that long? --Abderitestatos (talk) 12:26, 20 June 2024 (UTC)Reply
If the download is not working, most images have "Website" listed under the view panel (under the Compare button). That takes you to the website that is the source of the image. 75.136.148.8 (talk) 13:31, 20 June 2024 (UTC)Reply
With that link I get only the low resolution version, where almost nothing is readable. --Abderitestatos (talk) 23:16, 20 June 2024 (UTC)Reply
First click on "Compare" on the bottom right. Then click on "Document" on the popup in the top middle. That gets you a full-resolution version of the overlay map. --jpgordon𝄢𝄆𝄐𝄇 15:47, 28 June 2024 (UTC)Reply

June 22

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Android app

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Is there a rootless app or USB cable to use one of your Android smartphones as an in-out device/terminal for another of your Android smartphones when they're next to each other? Only one is new USB. Sagittarian Milky Way (talk) 18:49, 22 June 2024 (UTC)Reply

Can you explain what you mean by "in-out device/terminal"? Do you mean that you want to copy data from one phone to the other? CodeTalker (talk) 07:20, 23 June 2024 (UTC)Reply
Remote desktop except phones instead of PCs. Should I trust such apps? (if from the Play store) Sagittarian Milky Way (talk) 21:23, 23 June 2024 (UTC)Reply


June 25

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MTVNews.com archives gone

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Now that the MTVNews.com archives are gone, and there are quite a few links to it, do we ask the InternetArchiveBot people to run their bot on all pages that contain that url? How does that work? Polygnotus (talk) 06:20, 25 June 2024 (UTC)Reply

Either someone already did so or no one ever cited it to begin with. 2603:8001:4542:28FB:8DF1:8D96:7CF0:D084 (talk) 14:11, 25 June 2024 (UTC) (Send talk messages here)Reply


June 28

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