- How do I use bold, italics, strike, etc. in my posts?
- How long do I have to write until my .sig show up?
Note: Your contribution to this FAQ is needed. Please allow up to 48-hours for your submission(s) to be made public as I do need to approve them. If after 48-hours and your submissions are not up, please IM Me or Me. Thank you.
From the yet-another-convention-filled-with-mad-scientists department
NEW YORK, NY -- What happens when stuff is sent to /dev/null? Common knowledge dictates that it is deleted. However, a group of scientists suggest otherwise. At the Unconventional Scientist '98 Convention held in New York last week, several experts theorized that /dev/null is actually a portal to another dimension or universe. Others claimed that top secret government agencies or large multinational corporations (read: Microsoft) are using it to spy on innocent Unix users.
Bob "Paranoid" Johnson, a consultant for the National Expirer tabloid, said in a panel discussion, "Stuff sent to /dev/null on Unix systems, the Trash Can on Mac systems, and the Recycle Bin on Windows systems, is not really deleted. It is cached in a secret location on the hard drive until such time that the user is connected to the Net. Then it is sent over the Net to a destination me and my research team has been unable to identify. We suspect the 'resurrected' packets are sent to a government agency, perhaps as part of the 'Echelon' system. Or, for all we know, Bill Gates might be the recipient of all these packets, which usually consist of flames, spam, and porn."
When asked for proof of his contention, Johnson stuttered nervously and said, "Well, ah... I've compiled logs of all the, uhhh, packets transferred from my test system to some unknown Net server. These logs show some very, ah... suspicious occurences. But, well [cough]... I, um, accidentally left these logs on my other laptop computer which is still in, ahem, my hotel room. Sorry about that. I'll publish my logs and other findings on my website Real Soon Now."
Several other scientists argued that /dev/null acts like the singularity in a black hole. One said, "The bits sent to /dev/null have to go somewhere, just like the stuff that falls into a black hole. Physicists have speculated that black holes act as a portal or wormhole to other realms. If this is true, then it should be quite clear that /dev/null acts in a similar way. Unsuspecting Unix users could be sending their flames and porno to another realm/dimension/universe/whatever."
One convention attendee added half-jokingly, "Perhaps we're on the receiving end of one of those 'portals'. For all we know, the increased bloat in Microsoft software could be from excess bits funneled through /dev/null (or the equivalent) into our universe from another. Some guy in another realm could be sending his flame email to /dev/null, blissfully unaware that it's being included as part of our universe's Windows 2000!"
Our forums are both UBB and HTML (limited tag set) friendly! (You may be familiar with UBB codes from other forums). Please take advantage of preview mode before posting, to get the format working the way you want.
Curious to know how to do those smilies, bold, italics, strike in posts? Look at the hints at the right side of your text box when posting a message.
There is more post how-to information in the Site FAQ.
Currently, I don't think there's any posting rules. But it will be helpful if people indicate what they are testing in the "Catchy title" section. This way, others could help them out etc.
Things like Poll test, Sig test, Avatar test, Image test etc.
The word on the left in the list below, is placed in the opening of a syntax block where xxx is in the example here:
[syntax=xxx] paste your code here [/syntax]
Generally, whatever native file extension you are familiar with will work, especially popular ones (.h, .cc, .pl, etc). The list below is the exhaustive list of languages, but each of these languages may recognize one OR MORE extensions without drama. For example, PHP syntax highlighting will pickup on extensions php, php3, php4, and so on.
abaqus:Abaqus finite element input file (www.hks.com) abc:abc music notation language abel:ABEL acedb:AceDB model files ada:Ada (95) aflex:AfLex (from Lex syntax file) ahdl:Altera AHDL amiga:AmigaDos aml:AML (ARC/INFO Arc Macro Language) ampl:ampl (A Mathematical Programming Language) ant:ANT build file (xml) antlr:ANTLR, Another Tool For Language Recognition (www.antlr.org) apache:Apache configuration (httpd.conf, srm.conf, access.conf, .htaccess) apachestyle:Apache-Style configuration files (proftpd.conf/apache.conf/..) asm:GNU Assembler asm68k:Motorola 68000 Assembler asmh8300:Hitachi H-8300h specific syntax for GNU Assembler asn:ASN.1 aspperl:Active State's PerlScript (ASP) aspvbs:Microsoft VBScript Web Content (ASP) atlas:ATLAS automake:automake Makefile.am ave:avenue awk:awk, nawk, gawk, mawk ayacc:AYacc b:B (A Formal Method with refinement and mathematical proof) baan:Baan basic:BASIC bc:bc - An arbitrary precision calculator language bdf:BDF Font definition bib:BibTeX (bibliographic database format for (La)TeX) bindzone:BIND 8.x zone files (RFC1035) blank:Blank 1.4.1 btm:4Dos batch file c:C catalog:sgml catalog file cf:Cold Fusion cfg:Good old CFG files ch:CHILL (CCITT High Level Programming Language) change:WEB Changes changelog:generic ChangeLog file chaskell:Haskell supporting c2hs binding hooks cl:cl "Clever Language" by Multibase, »www.mbase.com.au) clean: Clean clipper:Clipper 5.2 & FlagShip cobol:COBOL conf:generic configure file config: configure.in script: M4 with sh cpp:C++ crontab:crontab cs:C# csc:Essbase script csh:C-shell (csh) csp:CSP (Communication Sequential Processes, using FDR input syntax) css:Cascading Style Sheets cterm:Century Term Command Script ctrlh:CTRL-H (e.g., ASCII manpages) cupl:CUPL cuplsim:CUPL simulation cvs:CVS commit file cweb:CWEB cynlib:Cynlib(C++) cynlib Language Information cynpp:Cyn++ cynpp Language Information dcl:DCL (Digital Command Language - vms) debchangelog:Debian changelog files debcontrol:Debian control files def:Microsoft Module-Definition (.def) File diff:Diff (context or unified) diva: SKILL for Diva dns:DNS/BIND Zone File docbk:DocBook dosbatch:MSDOS batch file (with NT command extensions) dosini:Configuration File (ini file) for MSDOS/MS Windows dot:Dot dracula:Dracula dsl:DSSSL dtd:DTD (Document Type Definition for XML) dtml: Zope's Dynamic Template Markup Language dylan:Dylan dylanintr:Dylan dylanlid:Dylan Library Interface Files ecd:ecd (Embedix Component Description) files eiffel:Eiffel elf Language:ELF elf ELF:Extensible Language Facility elmfilt:Elm Filter rules erlang:erlang (ERicsson LANGuage) esqlc:ESQL-C eterm:Eterm configuration file expect:Expect exports:exports fgl:Informix 4GL focexec:Focus Executable form:FORM forth Language:FORTH fortran:Fortran95 (and Fortran90, Fortran77, F and elf90) foxpro:FoxPro for DOS v2.x fvwm:Fvwm{1,2} configuration file gdb:GDB command files gdmo:GDMO gedcom:Gedcom gnuplot:gnuplot 3.7 pl0 gp:gp (version 2.1) groff:groff gsp:GSP - GNU Server Pages (v. 0.86) gtkrc:Gtk+ theme files `gtkrc' haskell:Haskell hb:Hyper Builder help:Vim help file hercules:Hercules (Avant! Corporation) hog:Snort Configuration File (see: »www.snort.org) html:HTML htmlm4:HTML and M4 htmlos:HTML/OS by Aestiva ia64:IA-64 (Itanium) assembly language icon:Icon idl:IDL (Interface Description Language) idlang Interactive Data Language syntax file (IDL, too:-) inform:Inform inittab:SysV-compatible init process control file `inittab' ishd:InstallShield Script iss:Inno Setup File (iss file) and My InnoSetup extension ist:Makeindex style file, *.ist jam:JAM jargon:Jargon File java:Java javacc:JavaCC, a Java Compiler Compiler written by JavaSoft javascript:JavaScript jess:Jess jgraph:jgraph (graph plotting utility) jproperties:Java Properties resource file (*.properties[_*]) jsp:JSP (Java Server Pages) kix:KixTart 95, Kix2001 Windows script language »kixtart.org/ kscript:kscript kwt:kimwitu++ lace: lace latte:Latte lex:Lex lftp Language:lftp Configuration file lhaskell:Haskell with literate comments lifelines:Lifelines (v 3.0.7) »lifelines.sourceforge.net lilo:lilo configuration (lilo.conf) lisp:Lisp lite:lite lotos:LOTOS (Language Of Temporal Ordering Specifications, IS8807) lout Language:Lout lprolog:LambdaProlog (Teyjus) lscript:LotusScript lss:Lynx 2.7.1 style file lua:Lua lynx:Lynx configuration file ( lynx.cfg ) m4: M4 mail:Mail file make:Makefile man:Man page maple:Maple V (based on release 4) maple Language Support masm:Microsoft Assembler (80x86) mason:Mason (Perl embedded in HTML) master:Focus Master File matlab:Matlab mel:MEL (Maya Extension Language) mf:Metafont mgp:mgp - MaGic Point mib:Vim syntax file for SNMPv1 and SNMPv2 MIB and SMI files mma:Mathematica model:Model modsim3:Modsim III, by compuware corporation (www.compuware.com) modula2:Modula 2 modula3:Modula-3 monk:Monk (See-Beyond Technologies) moo:MOO mp:MetaPost msql:msql muttrc:Mutt setup files named:BIND 8.x configuration file nasm:NASM - The Netwide Assembler (v0.98) nastran:NASTRAN input/DMAP natural: NATURAL ncf:Novell "NCF" Batch File nqc:NQC - Not Quite C, for LEGO mindstorms nroff:nroff / groff nsis:NSIS script, for version of NSIS 1.91 and later objc:Objective C ocaml:OCaml omnimark:Omnimark openroad: CA-OpenROAD opl:OPL opl Open Psion Language... (EPOC16/EPOC32) ora:Oracle config files (.ora) (Oracle 8i, ver. 8.1.5) papp:papp pascal:Pascal pccts:PCCTS perl:Perl pfmain:Postfix main.cf configuration php:php PHP 3/4 phtml:phtml PHP 2.0 pic:PIC16F84 Assembler (Microchip's microcontroller) pike:Pike pilrc:pilrc - a resource compiler for Palm OS development pine:Pine (email program) run commands plm:PL/M plsql:Oracle Procedureal SQL (PL/SQL) po:po (gettext) pod:Perl POD format postscr:PostScript - all Levels, selectable pov:PoV-Ray(tm) 3.5 Scene Description Language povini:PoV-Ray(tm) 3.5 configuration/initialization files ppd:PPD (PostScript printer description) file ppwiz:PPWizard (preprocessor by Dennis Bareis) procmail:Procmail definition file progress: Progress 4GL prolog:PROLOG psf:Software Distributor product specification file ptcap:printcap/termcap database purifylog:purify log files python:Python qf:Quickfix window r:R (GNU S) radiance:Radiance Scene Description ratpoison:Ratpoison configuration/commands file rc:M$ Resource files (*.rc) rcslog:RCS log output rebol:Rebol registry:Windows Registry export with regedit (*.reg) remind:Remind rexx:Rexx robots:"Robots.txt" files rpcgen:rpcgen rpl:RPL/2 rtf:Rich Text Format ruby:Ruby samba:samba configuration files (smb.conf) sas:SAS sather:Sather/pSather scheme:Scheme (R5RS) scilab:Scilab screen:Screen Virtual Terminal Emulator/Manager Configuration File sdl:SDL sed:sed sendpr:FreeBSD send-pr file sgml:SGML sgmldecl:SGML (SGML Declaration =!SGML ...>) sgmllnx:SGML-linuxdoc (supported by old sgmltools-1.x) sh: shell (sh) Korn shell (ksh) bash (sh) sicad:SiCAD (procedure language) simula:Simula sinda:sinda85, sinda/fluint input file sindacmp:sinda85, sinda/fluint compare file sindaout:sinda85, sinda/fluint output file skill: SKILL sl:Renderman shader language slang:S-Lang slrnrc:Slrn setup file slrnsc:Slrn score file sm:sendmail smil:SMIL (Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language) smith:SMITH sml:SML snnsnet:SNNS network file snnspat:SNNS pattern file snnsres:SNNS result file snobol4:SNOBOL4 spec:SPEC: Build/install scripts for Linux RPM packages specman:SPECMAN E-LANGUAGE spice:Spice circuit simulator input netlist splint:splint (C with lclint/splint Annotations) spup:Speedup, plant simulator from AspenTech sql:SQL, PL/SQL (Oracle 8i) sqlforms:SQL*Forms (Oracle 7) sqlj:sqlj sqr:Structured Query Report Writer (SQR) squid:Squid config file st:Smalltalk stp:Stored Procedures (STP) strace:strace output tads:TADS tags:tags tak:TAK2, TAK3, TAK2000 thermal modeling input file takcmp:TAK2, TAK3, TAK2000 thermal modeling compare file takout:TAK2, TAK3, TAK2000 thermal modeling output file tasm:TASM: turbo assembler by Borland tcl:TCL/TK terminfo Language:Terminfo definition tex:TeX texinfo:Texinfo (macro package for TeX) texmf:Web2C TeX texmf.cnf configuration file tf:tf tidy:HMTL Tidy configuration file ( /etc/tidyrc ~/.tidyrc ) tli:TealInfo source files (*.tli) trasys:TRASYS input file tsalt:Telix (Modem Comm Program) SALT Script tsscl:TSS (Thermal Synthesizer System) Command Line tssgm:TSS (Thermal Synthesizer System) Geometry tssop:TSS (Thermal Synthesizer System) Optics uc:UnrealScript uil:Motif UIL (User Interface Language) vb:Visual Basic verilog:Verilog vgrindefs:Vgrindefs vhdl:VHDL vhdl VHSIC Hardware Description Language vim:Vim 6.1 script viminfo:Vim .viminfo file virata:Virata Configuration Script vrml:VRML97 vsejcl:JCL job control language - DOS/VSE wdiff:wDiff (wordwise diff) web:WEB webmacro:WebMacro wget:Wget configuration file ( /etc/wgetrc ~/.wgetrc ) winbatch:WinBatch/Webbatch (*.wbt, *.web) wml:WML - Website MetaLanguage wsh:Windows Scripting Host wvdial:Configuration file for WvDial xdefaults:X resources files like ~/.Xdefaults (xrdb) xf86conf:XF86Config (XFree86 configuration file) xkb:XKB (X Keyboard Extension) components xmath:xmath (a simulation tool) xml:XML xmodmap:xmodmap definition file xpm:X Pixmap xpm2:X Pixmap v2 xs:XS (Perl extension interface language) xsd:XSD (XML Schema) xslt:XSLT xxd: bin using xxd yacc:Yacc z8a:Z80 assembler asz80 zsh:Z shell (zsh)
The first thing to do is to re-size the window which you'd like to take the screen shot of to prevent "page stretch".
Then: Make sure the window you want is the active window.
Press ALT + Print Screen SysRq (it will copy to the "clipboard")
Open MS Paint or other graphics program
File -> New
Edit -> Paste
File -> Save as JPEG or GIF
• Attachments
Finally, to post your screen shot, start a post on the site as you normally would, but then click on "Got Attachments?" and attach your file.
If you are using Internet Explorer, you will see the "attachments" button as displayed here:
The button activates the fields to browse and insert your image(s). If you have javascript disabled, the button may not work, so the link below it should be used.
If you've stored the image on your hard drive, then click on "browse" and navigate to the folder on your computer where the graphic is stored. Click on it, and it will be entered in the box to upload.
There is NO preview when uploading a graphic attachment.
-- Edit: This procedure has been revised and enhanced to remove the uploading limitation of two items. You can now submit up to sixteen attachments with one post, as illustrated below:
Note: Please heed the warning against attaching .bmp files to your posts.
Another recommended and freeware graphics program that can be used to manipulate your graphics is Irfanview.
As some of you may have noticed, if you try to post code (HTML, C, or other code), just by pasting it in and hitting PREVIEW, several bad things can happen.
• Your code loses any formatting. • Your code may vanish completely if it contains angle brackets • If you spell-check, your code is spell-checked (pointless) • You get annoyed
The solution is to use [code] blocks.
Stuff within a [code] block is not mucked with, and is printed in a mono-spaced font, with all spaces (formatting) preserved.
To use a code block within a post, just post like so:
[code] ... (your code goes here) ... [/code]
Note: the [code] and [/code] tags MUST APPEAR TO THE LEFT ON LINES BY THEMSELVES. Using [code]...[/code] inline, will not work.
The contents of the code block will be isolated from the post, shown in a mono-spaced font, and all angle and square brackets appear unmolested. Note, in order to preserve the right margin of the website, any lines longer than 90 characters are split, automatically, with notification at the bottom of the code block that this has happened.
Outside of code blocks, in order to use the characters: > < [ and ] use ASCII-ISO 8859-1 codes. These are codes that are specific to individual HTML characters:
[ = [ ] = ] < = < > = >
Note: When using ASCII-ISO 8859-1 codes to post with, you can only preview your post once. If you preview twice, the second preview will convert the post. For example:
If you are making a long and detailed post using the ASCII-ISO 8859-1 codes, it is advisable to write it first into notepad and copy and paste it into your post when it is ready. This way you will keep the original coding intact.
To print just the one post and not the entire thread hover over to here: .. and you'll see the number for just that post then replace user http://www.dslreports.com/speak/print/default;xxxxxxx with the post number.
An example would be: http://www.dslreports.com/speak/print/default;2092703 which would produce: Click to view.
This is an extra ability that is not included in the hints beside the text box when posting. To center text and pictures in a post, use the following code:
<center>Put your text or image tag here</center>
This will cause that section to appear centered in your post like this:
Use a syntax block within your post. The format is:
[syntax=xxx] (paste your code here) [/syntax]
xxx is the language of your code fragment, as it would typically be represented in a FILE EXTENSION. Some common extensions that will trigger syntax coloring are below. Replacing xxx in the example above with php, for example, will syntax color a php code fragment.
javascript - Javascript java - Java perl - perl code php - php code h - c header file registry - Windows registry export fragment
Note: Syntax blocks can be edited after the post has been made Note: Syntax blocks will preview correctly. If they do not preview, they will not post correctly either. Note: Syntax blocks cannot be AUTO-QUOTED, and should not be quoted manually Note: The begin and end markers around a syntax block must be on their own lines and against the left margin
First, make sure you selected "show signature." Also your post must be longer than your sig. For instance if your sig is "www.dslreports.com" your post would need to be at least 19 characters long.
It is your responsibility to find the answers to your questions. No one can just give them to you because they don't know what needs fixing. When you have searched for the answer you're looking for in the site FAQs and the various forums and still need help then it's time to ask your question.
The preferred dimension of an uploaded/linked graphic is 640 pixels or less in width.
Using the Got Attachments Feature Any graphic wider than 700 pixels uploaded via the "got attachments" feature will be auto-thumbnailed down to 200 pixels. Anything between 1 and 700 pixels wide is shown as is, unless the image file is very big in which case it is thumbnailed, and then is displayed using 1 to 3 column-spanning cells and as many rows as necessary for all attachments.
At this time, all .png graphics uploaded are reduced to 200 pixels.
The image below was uploaded as a 1600 pixel-wide .jpg file. The system auto-thumbnailed it to a smaller image clickable to see the original large version.
Using Image Tags for Linking Off-Site Any graphic wider than 700 pixels linked off-site using [img] tags will not be resized, and will blow out the right margin of the posting window. The extended margin will affect the entire posting page, and can render the thread difficult for you and others to read. If this occurs, mods will edit the graphic to include a "width" statement, changing the graphic size. Please be considerate of others when posting images.
If you must use "inline" images from another site, you can also bury width, or width and height attributes in the image html, to stop margin blowout. If you see a wide external image, "hey-mod" it, so a mod can edit in a width attribute.