Random Question Thread: Tech

[Aja]

So I have an ASUS P5Q Deluxe motherboard. I woke up this morning and the Power-on and Reset switches on the bottom of it are blinking. The manual doesn't say anything really about what to do if they are blinking. Does anyone have any idea?

[LilWhmMan]

Guess this is the best place to ask... Not really sure where otherwise, but does anyone know where to find a decent torrent of Microsoft Office? Can PM or w/e, just wanted it pick it up for school and being a poor college student, makes that difficult. Thanks.

[Mici]

Anyone fill their printer ink cartridges? Any site/brand suggestions? Specifically I am looking for ink to fill a HP61 cartridge if it matters. I have found a million sites but they all seem kind of sketchy.

Thanks in advance.

[Skeelo]

Tried starting up my pc this morning and it got to the Bios/boot menu then goes to a black screen with a blinking cursor. Has been there for a couple of hours. No button will respond. Ive removed all usbs. Any suggestions?

Ctr+alt+del bring it back to the Bios/boot menu but then it just goes back to the black screen.

[Isiolia]

Reseat your RAM/cards, if not that, disconnect HDDs and see if it gets past that. I've seen systems hang there when they're waiting on a HDD that isn't spinning.

[Skeelo]

Sorry forgot to mention is a lap top. Is that still going to be doable?

[Isiolia]

Sure. It may just be a far more involved process, depending on the machine.

[Skeelo]

Ok thanks for the suggestions.

[Omniyoji]

If it's not the RAM see if BIOs recognizes the HDD. boot via USBkey or windows CD/DVD and run a repair/check disk? Google the procedure if you're not familiar.

[TacoTaru]

Got some information already, but I'm hoping the techies at BG can help me a bit further. Bit of background: Before I got my current position, I had decided to go back to college for computer science if I got passed on for another FT job. Since I got it, I've decided to go about getting my master's in Library Science, but I still have a really strong interest in computer science. If any of you have read my posts before, you'll probably laugh heartily as my computer knowledge is next to zilch (but my knowledge for writing XMLs for XI is decent hurrr), but I've got a few guys I work with now that can help me along, but I'm looking for kind of the path I would take when learning different languages and such. One guy directed me to get comfortable with this book:

HTML, XHTML, and CSS, Sixth Edition: Visual QuickStart Guide, 6th Edition

and then move on to Jquery, but he said that's pretty much where is knowledge ends. Is there any kind of recommendation (book, website, etc) for this kinda thing as a learn to do it yourself, or even kind of a very basic outline of what I should learn first before I go onto the next type?

Thanks in advance.

[Caiyuo]

Got some information already, but I'm hoping the techies at BG can help me a bit further. Bit of background: Before I got my current position, I had decided to go back to college for computer science if I got passed on for another FT job. Since I got it, I've decided to go about getting my master's in Library Science, but I still have a really strong interest in computer science. If any of you have read my posts before, you'll probably laugh heartily as my computer knowledge is next to zilch (but my knowledge for writing XMLs for XI is decent hurrr), but I've got a few guys I work with now that can help me along, but I'm looking for kind of the path I would take when learning different languages and such. One guy directed me to get comfortable with this book:

HTML, XHTML, and CSS, Sixth Edition: Visual QuickStart Guide, 6th Edition

and then move on to Jquery, but he said that's pretty much where is knowledge ends. Is there any kind of recommendation (book, website, etc) for this kinda thing as a learn to do it yourself, or even kind of a very basic outline of what I should learn first before I go onto the next type?

Thanks in advance.

Asked a friend about this that can't access this section:

Hm. I don't know that I'd say someone interested in programming should start with a markup language, and jQuery is kind of predicated on knowing JavaScript. If that's a domain that interests this dude, I'd say look at this:
http://oreilly.com/catalog/0636920010906

If he's interested in more involved programming, this is the book I wish I had when I was 15:
http://www.pearsonhighered.com/educa...132576376.page

[TacoTaru]

At that first link (at this is going to be somewhat sketchy since I'm vaguely remembering the reasoning from earlier): The guy who recommended the book I posted said (at this point) for someone who doesn't know any basics to avoid HTML5 because it's not a standardized language yet and it's apt to change over the next couple of years because of that. Also it requires you know basics of HTML.

As for the second link: thanks! I guess this gleans more light on my ignorance, but I thought markup language was something you just should know even before starting any kind of programming.

[Kirbyprime]

Bit confused, exactly what kind of languages are you looking into learning? You referenced HTML, Javascript and CSS which seems to refer to web languages but is that what you're planning on doing or is anything good as long as it's interesting? Depending on what you're trying to accomplish you have quite a bit of languages to choose from.

For the most common web based stuff
- HTML
- Javascript ( By extension jQuery )
- C# ( By extension ASP.net )
- PHP
- Actionscript 3 using Flash ( Fuck 2, let it die already )

In terms of stand alone languages, HTML is the only real languages out of that list that needs to be learnt separately. Most of the other languages are derived from object oriented programming so in terms of programming style and syntax tends to be fairly similar. If you're planning on going the web route I would probably look into HTML, Javascript, and PHP. Javascript and PHP are a bit more similar in regards to how variables and such are defined.

Though if you're not restricted to just web languages, I would actually suggest a more low level programming language like C++. Mostly because C won't be dying for ages and you can do a lot of nifty stuff ( XD like windower! ) that isn't possible with a top level language. Also, most languages nowadays are in one way or another derived from C so it's a lot easier to understand other languages once you understand how it works.

[Nemesio]

Anyone aware of where I can find Mac driver disk files online? I recently partitioned my Macbook for FFXI, but have no sound, and am unable to use many functions I could use prior(I had to reinstall due to a crash, but have lost the disks since).

[tonyg]

I've had a few problems lately with my computer and I can't quite find out what it is by myself, so I'm hoping there's some brilliant people in here that could help me.

Basically I have a few applications that constantly crash, such as Firefox (sometimes on a random page and more frequently when I watch videos) and League of Legends startup application. When it does that, the computer locks up and I can't do anything else except move my mouse around and click on stuff, but no program will open, and I can't open the task manager nor reboot my computer without doing it manually. Any idea what could be wrong?

[Isiolia]

Anyone aware of where I can find Mac driver disk files online? I recently partitioned my Macbook for FFXI, but have no sound, and am unable to use many functions I could use prior(I had to reinstall due to a crash, but have lost the disks since).

Around. Google for Boot Camp drivers. Apple only provides updates, since, as you know, the original installer is part of the OS DVD. Or just find someone else with a Mac to borrow the disc from (or buy a new disc, etc).

You should be able to get most things working by downloading the drivers from elsewhere though, save for Apple-specific things (you probably want the trackpad working for multi-touch at least though, I'd assume).

[Nemesio]

Around. Google for Boot Camp drivers. Apple only provides updates, since, as you know, the original installer is part of the OS DVD. Or just find someone else with a Mac to borrow the disc from (or buy a new disc, etc).

You should be able to get most things working by downloading the drivers from elsewhere though, save for Apple-specific things (you probably want the trackpad working for multi-touch at least though, I'd assume).

Trackpad was the one I was most concerned about, although sound would be nice. Thank you for the help, it had been forever since I tried and just remembered that BG had a tech forum.

[Isiolia]

Sound is just a Realtek driver if I recall, though it may depend on model. I've had to install them manually at times because the 64-bit Boot Camp installer won't work if Apple didn't deem your model 64-bit worthy (plus you need to tweak the Windows ISO to boot from it to install...might be why they do that).

[Ratatapa]

I doubt it's possible but anyone know a good portable USB BlueRay drive (that can burn DVD also) but that is USB powered only?

If that doesn't exist which external blue ray player you suggest

Thanks

[Mellema]

I doubt it's possible but anyone know a good portable USB BlueRay drive (that can burn DVD also) but that is USB powered only?

If that doesn't exist which external blue ray player you suggest

Thanks

Asus External Combo Drive

edit: Cheaper on Newegg

or With BD burning