Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2012 May 31

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May 31

HP notebook - broken left-hand hinge, AGAIN! and overheating

Gday. Anyone wth any experience with HP notebook left-hand hinge busting (in my case, a Pavilion DV6 3030TX) . The computer also overheats. The hinge failure happened during warranty and then the hinge as repaired failed, all in about 18 months from new. I believe the overheating is a factor in its failure, as well as the inherent weakness of the bottom casing at the corner where too many vent slots reduce structural continuity of the casing right near the hinge). From what I understand in reading HP forum comments, HP couldnt give a rats. But what of late? Any change in policy? Any remedy for me here in Aus for 'out of warranty' replacement/repair at no cost to me? (Certainly, no more HPs for me!) Any and all comments welcome, and thanks in advance. Benyoch ^{...Don't panic! Don't panic!...} (talk) 06:04, 31 May 2012 (UTC)

I doubt anyone can help you unless you mention where you live. In NZ, this would likely be covered under the Consumer Guarantees Act, although you'd have to either convince HP or your retailer of that, or you'd need to take them to the small claims court. Nil Einne (talk) 09:19, 31 May 2012 (UTC)Sorry missed the Aus part. Nil Einne (talk) 09:24, 31 May 2012 (UTC)

It sounds like Australian law has recently changed to be more friendly to consumers [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] however this only took effect in 2011 or 2012 so if you're item is older then 18 months you're probably only covered under the old law. Whether the old law protects you I can't say, my understanding was Australian consumer law was fairly weak when it came to product defects and out of warranty problem of this sort. Nil Einne (talk) 09:34, 31 May 2012 (UTC) Edit: Per [6] [7] [8], it sounds like you may have a case, I suggest you read more and then contact HP if you believe they failing their obligations. If that doesn't work, try contacting an appropriate consumer protection organisation or CAB for advice. Nil Einne (talk) 09:46, 31 May 2012 (UTC)

vi, vim and ex

Regarding the programs listed above, is it just coincidence that these three are all Latin words, and vi and vim are different forms of the same word vis? 67.164.156.42 (talk) 07:19, 31 May 2012 (UTC)

Please read the articles on the three editors. vi Vim (text editor) and ex (text editor) explain their naming. Come back if you need more. The langauge desk might provide better help since you need to dig into the antecedents of words like visual or extended or improved to understand the latin coincidence. --Tagishsimon (talk) 08:49, 31 May 2012 (UTC)

I know what specific cause gave rise to their names, but that doesn't necessarily tell me if the creators chose to name them this way deliberately to mimic Latin words. 67.164.156.42 (talk) 19:03, 1 June 2012 (UTC)

Overclocking Video Cards

WHAT IS THE best soft to overclock nvidia videocards i mean maybe that which is used most???? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 77.35.18.106 (talk) 11:06, 31 May 2012 (UTC)

This driver add-on is the "official" tool from nvidia for overclocking 206.131.39.6 (talk) 18:45, 31 May 2012 (UTC)

man thanks a bunch! didnt know something like this existed there. all those third party apps look too bulky and complicated to me while this one is realy neat and easy to get on with — Preceding unsigned comment added by 77.35.8.57 (talk) 00:39, 1 June 2012 (UTC)

browsers and standardisation

Hi all. I'm learning Javascript/jQuery/jQuery UI with a bit of css thrown in (not to become an expert, just for a web application I'm devising). Loading the same page in IE and Safari produces quite different results, possibly because of some bug in jQuery, possibly because of some error in my code causing non-standard behaviour. Wherever the problem lies, it seems as though standardisation across browsers, and basic functionality, are slow to emerge. Drag and drop interfaces using Javascript are still not easy or standardised, although jQuery is going a long way. Also there would seem to be quite a few bugs around getting in the way. Yet the web has been around for quite a while now. Why have these things taken so long to emerge? Is it because of the difficulty of getting different companies to agree on standardisation, or is the programming task inherently difficult?

On a different note, I'm looking for a way to get a webpage to show me, at the click of a button (or similar) all the classes (css etc) which each element has. One of the problems with my code is that somehow Safari and IE aren't even getting the same classes attached to each element, hence they are displaying very differently. I'm getting rounded corners in Safari, but sharp edges in IE, for various text boxes. I know it's something to do with classes not getting attached, because I've programmed it to print certain classes within each element, but this is laborious, so I'm looking for a universal way. Many thanks, IBE (talk) 18:14, 31 May 2012 (UTC)

As to your latter question, about inspecting the actual styles on a given object, there's a Firefox extension called Firebug which has a lot of useful features for web developers, including the "inspect" ability, which lets one see the specified styles on a given element (what applies to this element from each of the stylesheets that pertain) and the computed style (which is the net result of applying all the styles). Google Chrome has much the same functionality built in. I don't know about IE or Safari. -- Finlay McWalterჷTalk 18:53, 31 May 2012 (UTC)

As to your former, make sure the very first line of your source starts with, exactly, <!doctype html>, and then make sure your markup and CSS are valid. Your suspicions about different companies are correct. ¦ Reisio (talk) 21:34, 31 May 2012 (UTC)

(nb I altered your indenting) wtf..!!!!! it works! I don't know what that did, but somehow when I do that, then even change back (so the doctype message is later in the file) it still works! Totally awesome, and I was on the verge of chewing up hours trying to find where it was failing to link. Much appreciated, IBE (talk) 22:52, 31 May 2012 (UTC)

If it's truly still working after moving it back where it shouldn't be, I would assume some wonderful caching issue, hit CTRL+F5 a couple times. Not that there's any good reason for it to not be the first line... ¦ Reisio (talk) 23:51, 31 May 2012 (UTC)

Different browsers handle invalid markup differently. There's really no point in testing HTML (or CSS) that doesn't validate, as all you're doing is exploring those inconsistencies (which may differ subtly between even point releases of the same browser). I think HTML5 finally has a formal definition of what browsers should do with invalid markup, but I'd never want to rely on that. Part of a sensible automated build process for a nontrivial website includes running all the html through a validator like HTML Tidy; it can seem like a martinet quibbling over trivia, but it's always right and complying with its demands can be rather educational. -- Finlay McWalterჷTalk 23:26, 31 May 2012 (UTC)

Indeed. Although to be clear, ensuring code will trigger standards mode and not quirks mode is historically out of HTML Tidy's scope. In recent years the W3C validator has sometimes generated warnings about it, but it's one bit of information well worth lodging away and not relying on a validator to remind you of. ¦ Reisio (talk) 23:51, 31 May 2012 (UTC)