http://fileformats.archiveteam.org/api.php?action=feedcontributions&user=Cipher&feedformat=atomJust Solve the File Format Problem - User contributions [en]2024-03-29T10:35:13ZUser contributionsMediaWiki 1.19.2http://fileformats.archiveteam.org/wiki/User_talk:Dan_TobiasUser talk:Dan Tobias2013-01-26T01:26:51Z<p>Cipher: /* Interwiki links */</p>
<hr />
<div>== CSS ==<br />
<br />
We need to figure out how to deal with disambiguation pages. It is obvious that [[CSS]] can be either [[Cascading Style Sheets]] or [[Content Scramble System]], and I don't think this particular wiki should give preference to one known value over another if the abbreviation can be expanded to an unambiguous name. That's why I linked to [[CSS]] on the [[DVD]] page, rather than linking directly to [[Content Scramble System]]. Unless we plan to sort this out immediately, it might be best to leave that link in place, so that we don't lose track of it. Thoughts? [[User:Gphemsley|Gphemsley]] ([[User talk:Gphemsley|talk]]) 02:05, 29 November 2012 (UTC)<br />
:Perhaps the current CSS article should be moved to Cascading Style Sheets, and a Content Scramble System article created, with [[CSS]] as a disambig article linking to both. But in that case, any specific links to a particular kind of CSS should link directly to the proper one of the articles, not the disambig one. [[User:Dan Tobias|Dan Tobias]] ([[User talk:Dan Tobias|talk]]) 02:18, 29 November 2012 (UTC)<br />
:: Done. And created [[Template:Disambiguation]] to keep track of disambiguation pages. [[User:Gphemsley|Gphemsley]] ([[User talk:Gphemsley|talk]]) 16:00, 29 November 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Interwiki links ==<br />
<br />
Just a heads-up: You can link to Wikipedia (and a select number of other wikis) using the regular wikilinking syntax by using the relevant wikiprefix. For example: [[Wikipedia:User:GPHemsley]] or [[Wikipedia:Archive Team]]. That way you can differentiate more intimate links to Wikipedia from truly external links to other websites. [[User:Gphemsley|GPHemsley]] ([[User talk:Gphemsley|talk]]) 17:48, 17 December 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:Given this site's founder's opinions of Wikipedia, I'm not sure he'd like to get "more intimate" with it, but I'll keep that in mind anyway. [[User:Dan Tobias|Dan Tobias]] ([[User talk:Dan Tobias|talk]]) 23:07, 17 December 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Re: Wikipedia - I had a paid writing gig last year and in the guidlines there was a strict prohibition from using or citing Wikipedia. <br />
They had good reasons for that... [[User:Cipher|Cipher]] ([[User talk:Cipher|talk]])<br />
<br />
== Sidebar ==<br />
<br />
Another wikitip: You can change the links in the sidebar by editing [[MediaWiki:Sidebar]] (admins only). You might choose to remove "Current events" and "Help" and add some of the links from the Main page, for example. It takes a somewhat special syntax, though, so you'll probably want to consult [[mw:Manual:Interface/Sidebar]] for guidance. [[User:Gphemsley|GPHemsley]] ([[User talk:Gphemsley|talk]]) 22:26, 22 December 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:Thanks for the tips. [[User:Dan Tobias|Dan Tobias]] ([[User talk:Dan Tobias|talk]]) 23:40, 22 December 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== re [[Talk:Text-based_data]] ==<br />
<br />
How do you feel about splitting the Markup languages section out of [[Document]] and a few of the file formats out of [[Text-based data]] into a [[Markup]] page/category? For instance [[textile]] and [[markdown]] have different ontologies but are more similar than not. I'm willing to move stuff over if you define the category. As you mentioned on [[Talk:Text-based data]], 'Categorization is getting pretty chaotic' [[User:Sethwoodworth|Sethwoodworth]] ([[User talk:Sethwoodworth|talk]]) 00:58, 18 January 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:A lot of stuff in the ontology probably needs rethinking... any attempt to categorize things starts to get messy and inconsistent after a while, and shows the biases of whoever set them up in the first place and whatever lines of thought they happened to be having at the time, which might not end up being relevant later. (See the Dewey Decimal System categories, for instance; it devotes lots of number space to different aspects of Christian churches, then shoves all "Other Religions" in a small section.) Yes, markup probably deserves its own category (though HTML then would belong there, but it's also in the Web category; should things be in just one category or multiple ones?) [[User:Dan Tobias|Dan Tobias]] ([[User talk:Dan Tobias|talk]]) 02:01, 18 January 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:Hrrm, I see. Maybe things need multiple categories. The CDC's public health image library uses multiple ontologies pretty effectively [http://imgur.com/lqd6p] For now I wont sweat it too much. Search works pretty well. [[User:Sethwoodworth|Sethwoodworth]] ([[User talk:Sethwoodworth|talk]]) 16:14, 18 January 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:OK, I added a [[Markup]] page. [[User:Dan Tobias|Dan Tobias]] ([[User talk:Dan Tobias|talk]]) 15:58, 19 January 2013 (UTC)</div>Cipherhttp://fileformats.archiveteam.org/wiki/GlossaryGlossary2013-01-26T01:16:00Z<p>Cipher: </p>
<hr />
<div>Some of the terms that might be encountered in descriptions of file formats:<br />
<br />
'''Analog''': A continuously-variable signal, as opposed to a digital representation which divides the data into little pieces that can be represented numerically, such as pixels in an image. An analog signal (for instance, the music encoded in the groove of a [[Gramophone record|record]] or the image on [[photographic film]]), has no "sampling rate" and can sometimes be analyzed down to higher resolutions than the original playback devices may have supported, though you eventually reach the limitations of the physical media involved. (''Analog'' is also a science fiction magazine, formerly named ''Astounding''.)<br />
<br />
'''Batch File:''' A script that contains commands and arguments to automate routine tasks. These commands and arguments can be run by typing them into the terminal or saved and run whenever needed saving time and effort. They can be edited if necessary to accomodate changes in the work environment they are used in.<br />
These scripts are mini programs that do narrowly defined tasks and are written in a text editor. Generally having to do with file and disk management, they can do many other things as well. They can written to ask for user input and respond accordingly. Many network administration tasks can be automated with batch files. They can also be used to control the behaviour of other programs.<br />
The commands and arguments in a batch file are executed in sequence. <br />
'''Batch files''' [http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb490869.aspx] are run by the '''command.com''' [http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/windows/xp/all/proddocs/en-us/ntcmds_shelloverview.mspx?mfr=true] program, and use the file extension '''.bat''' and can only be run on Windows or PC/MS-DOS machines. ([[Batch file|Full article]])<br />
(''see '''Shell Scripts''' for similar files for Unix, Linux and Apple computers'')<br />
<br />
'''Baud''': Sometimes treated as a synonym for "bits per second" in transfer protocols, but not actually synonymous; it refers to the number of signal changes per second, e.g., in a modem. Early modems transferred one bit per signal change, so a 300-baud modem got 300 bits per second, but later modems used more sophisticated protocols that transferred multiple bytes per signal change by using more distinct types of signals, so "bps" (or "kbps", "mbps", etc.) is the more appropriate term to use when discussing the amount of data a device, network, or protocol can transfer.<br />
<br />
'''Big-Endian''': The system of storing numeric values which take up more than one byte in a manner in which the high-order byte comes first. If a number takes up more than 8 bits to store (e.g., an integer larger than 255), it must be divided between bytes, and it becomes an issue in file format definitions whether the "larger-valued" parts of the number come in the first byte or the last one. See [[Endianness]].<br />
<br />
'''Binary''': Base 2 numbers, consisting entirely of the digits 1 and 0. These are very important in computing, where everything is stored on a digital computer in the form of a series of binary digits, or bits. While all data formats are "binary" in this sense, usually "binary file format" is used to refer to a method of storing data that is something other than plain text; it consists of raw numbers which don't look like anything meaningful when brought up in a text editor. Even raw binary data is rarely displayed as actual 1s and 0s; developers usually use more compact notations such as hexadecimal or octal.<br />
<br />
'''Bit''': A single binary digit. In a computer it is stored in something analogous to a light switch, which can be turned on or off, representing digits 1 and 0 respectively. (Of course, a bit in computer memory is much smaller than a light switch; millions of them fit on a computer chip or optical or magnetic storage medium.)<br />
<br />
'''Bitmap''': An image stored as a set of groups of bits representing the color value of each pixel of the image, which can be mapped onto a display medium (screen or printer) for output. A black-and-white bitmap needs only one bit per pixel, while color images need more bits depending on the number of different colors supported. The values used for each pixel might be numeric indices within some enumerated palette of colors, or direct renditions of the color (e.g., by "RGB" values specifying the amount of red, green, and blue making up the color).<br />
<br />
'''Byte''': A group of eight bits, sometimes also referred to as an "octet". This is how computer memory is traditionally organized. Usually a byte is treated as a unit, representing a number from 0 to 255 or else a text character in an encoding such as [[ASCII]], but some file formats delve into the individual bits; the 8 bits which make up a byte are arranged from the "high-order bit" to the "low-order bit" based on where they fall in the binary number represented by them; as with conventional decimal numbers, the leftmost one has the highest value and is the "high-order bit". (How they're physically arranged on the storage medium depends on the characteristics of the specific device. This is usually not of concern to programmers of anything above low-level device drivers and processor microcode; normal developers see only the abstract logical structure of the bits and bytes.) In raw memory dumps, a byte will often be displayed as two hexadecimal digits. (''Byte'' is also a computer magazine published since the 1970s.)<br />
<br />
'''Digital''': The inverse of "analog", meaning a set of data which has been digitized (if it originated in an analog medium), or else created natively on a digital device such as a computer. There are no continuously-variable quantities in a digital data set, only a set of discrete elements which can be converted into a series of bits for storage. Images, for instance, are broken up into pixels at some stated resolution, each of which can have one of a finite set of color values. Sounds are sampled at some sampling rate to capture the state of the sound wave at that point.<br />
<br />
'''Exabyte''': 1024 (or 1000) petabytes, or about a quintillion bytes. The world's total capacity to store information was estimated at 295 exabytes in 2007 (up from 2.6 exabytes in 1986).<br />
<br />
'''Floating point''': A type of numeric storage that allows fractional parts expressed as decimal places, and an exponent indicating where the decimal point is placed.<br />
<br />
'''Gigabyte''': 1024 (or 1000) megabytes. Once an exotic term in the days when computer memory and disk space was typically measured in kilobytes, it is now commonplace even in measuring the size of small and cheap [[thumb drive]]s.<br />
<br />
'''Hexadecimal''' (or "hex"): Numbers expressed in base 16. This works similarly to the base-10 decimal system usually used by humans (probably because we have ten fingers, if you include the thumbs), but with some extra digits to make up 16 digits in all, which comprise the numbers 0 through 9, plus the letters A through F (representing values of 10 through 15). Programmers use hexadecimal often, since 16 is a power of 2 and hence it is easier to translate between binary and hexadecimal than it is to get to and from decimal; each hexadecimal digit represents four binary digits (bits). A byte can be expressed with two hex digits, and a single hex digit (half a byte) is called a "nybble". Several notations have been used to express hexadecimal numbers and distinguish them from other bases, including the [[C]] notation of preceding the number with '''0x''' (e.g., '''0xABCD'''), the notation common on some early personal computers of using the dollar sign ($) before a hex number, and yet another notation of following the number with "h".<br />
<br />
'''Integer''': A number with no fractional part. An unsigned integer has a positive value (or zero); a signed integer can have a negative, zero, or positive value. The number of bytes used to store integers in binary form can vary by platform, but it is common for a normal integer to be two bytes (16 bits), and a long integer 4 bytes (32 bits).<br />
<br />
'''Kilobaud''': 1000 (or 1024) baud. Not actually the same as "kilobit per second", as explained under Baud. (Also the name of a computer magazine back in the '70s and '80s.)<br />
<br />
'''Kilobit''': 1000 (or 1024) bits, or 1/8 of a kilobyte. Transfer protocols usually measure their speed in bits per second (or multiples thereof) rather than bytes, so you have to divide by 8 to get the number of bytes (or kilobytes, etc.) transferred in a second.<br />
<br />
'''Kilobyte''': Either 1000 bytes (the literal meaning of the metric prefix "kilo") or, more often, 1024 bytes (a power of two, which makes it a "round number" to a computer). Attempts to resolve the ambiguity by introducing a new term "kibibyte" for 1024 bytes to leave "kilobyte" meaning 1000 haven't gone anywhere.<br />
<br />
'''Little-Endian''': The system of storing numeric values which take up more than one byte in a manner in which the low-order byte comes first. If a number takes up more than 8 bits to store (e.g., an integer larger than 255), it must be divided between bytes, and it becomes an issue in file format definitions whether the "smaller-valued" parts of the number come in the first byte or the last one. See [[Endianness]].<br />
<br />
'''Megabyte''': 1024 (or sometimes 1000) kilobytes, or 1,048,576 (or 1,000,000) bytes. The ambiguity is between the use of strict decimal multiples (in keeping with the normal meaning of the metric prefixes), which comes more naturally to humans, or the powers-of-2-based multiples which come more naturally to computers.<br />
<br />
'''Nybble''': Half a byte (4 bits), representable by a single hexadecimal digit.<br />
<br />
'''Octal''': Numbers expressed in base 8, using only the digits 0 through 7. Along with hexadecimal, this is a base often used by programmers, being a power of 2 and hence easy to convert from or to binary; in this case, it represents three bits. Some things, including Unix file permission levels, are commonly expressed in octal digits, but hexadecimal is better-suited to many other applications due to it fitting evenly within an 8-bit byte. In standard [[C]] notation, octal numbers are preceded by a leading zero.<br />
<br />
'''Petabyte''': 1024 (or 1000) terabytes. For now, this much storage still requires a large array of disk drives or other storage units, but if things keep going the way they've been for the last few decades, it wouldn't be surprising if you could carry this much storage in your pocket soon.<br />
<br />
'''Pixel''': One "picture element", a part of a graphic image as stored on a computer. If the image is 640 x 480, it consists of a matrix of pixels 640 wide and 480 high, for a total of 307,200 pixels. If each pixel can be one of 256 colors, this image can be stored in that number of bytes (or fewer if [[compression]] is applied), but most computer image formats these days have a larger color palette, thus requiring more bytes of storage.<br />
<br />
'''Shell Scripts:'''<br />
Linux, Unix and Apple systems have scripting schemes that do the same jobs that batch files ('''.bat''') do in Windows machines, and run are run from their terminals. They are called '''Shell Scripts''' [http://www.arachnoid.com/linux/shell_programming.html] and in Linux and Unix typically use the file extension '''.sh''' although there are others sometimes used. For Apple computers the scripts are written in '''Applescript''' [https://developer.apple.com/library/mac/#documentation/AppleScript/Conceptual/AppleScriptX/AppleScriptX.html] and the file extension is '''.scpt'''. These scripts can have variables and flow control statements (e.g. goto, if-then-else, while, for,) <br />
Like their counterparts in Windows, these scripts are executable, and can be saved to automate tasks and be edited as needed. The file extension in Linux and Unix is not really required, what makes them what they are is controlled by the first line of the script itself and it needs to be made executable by the owner of the file. (''see '''Batch Files''' for Windows equivalent'')<br />
<br />
'''Terabyte''': 1024 (or 1000) gigabytes. A growing number of inexpensive storage units now support this much storage.<br />
<br />
'''Trinary''': Numbers expressed in base 3, using only the digits 0 through 2. This is not very commonly used in computing, since 3 is not a power of 2, but an experimental means of encoding data in [[DNA]] makes use of it, calling the individual digits "trits" analogously to "bits" being binary digits.<br />
<br />
'''Vector graphics''': Graphics expressed as a group of vectors specifying coordinates of a starting point (or specifying that the vector starts at the point the previous vector ended), the vector direction and length (by an angle and length, or by specifying an endpoint), and the drawing status for the vector (e.g., move without drawing, draw a line of specified color, draw a stored shape, etc.). This is as opposed to raster graphics which specify each pixel's content. Vector graphics are rendered by following the instructions in the file as to what lines and shapes to draw.<br />
<br />
'''Yottabyte''': 1024 (or 1000) zettabytes. No system has come near containing this much information yet.<br />
<br />
'''Zettabyte''': 1024 (or 1000) exabytes. The entire amount of information on the World Wide Web has been estimated at half a zettabyte.</div>Cipherhttp://fileformats.archiveteam.org/wiki/LinuxLinux2013-01-25T11:49:57Z<p>Cipher: </p>
<hr />
<div>{|<br />
|[[Software]]<br />
| ><br />
|[[Operating Systems]]<br />
| ><br />
|[[Linux]]<br />
|}<br />
<br />
'''Linux''' [https://www.linux.com/] is an operating system (OS) closely related to '''Unix''' [http://www.unix.org/]. Linux is an Open Source OS which means that anyone can access the original source code and modify it to suit their purposes. This has resulted in the many different flavors of Linux referred to as '''Distributions''' (distros) [http://distrowatch.com/]. Linux is noted for being supported by many free software packages that replace the proprietary software used in many operating systems. There are free and open source word processors for example. <br />
<br />
== History: ==<br />
<br />
Linux started as the '''GNU Project''' [https://www.gnu.org/] which produced many software/utility packages for a future OS they wished to develop. Linus Torvalds created the Linux kernal, the heart of the OS, in 1991. Torvalds combined his kernal with the GNU software and Linux was born. [https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~awb/linux.history.html]<br />
<br />
== Who uses Linux? ==<br />
<br />
Linux is a very small fraction (about 2%) of desktop computers worldwide, however it is a leader in cellphones and tablets, it being the core of the Android OS. The Apple iOS and Android are the two major players in these markets. Additionally, the server market, in particular Internet Service Providers, is dominated by Unix and Linux machines with about 60% of that market.<br />
<br />
== Linux as Utility ==<br />
<br />
Many technicians supporting '''Microsoft Windows''' operating systems use a bootable '''Linux LiveCD/DVD''' [http://livecdlist.com/] to access hard drives to perform repairs and retrieve data that may be lost if their repair efforts require them to format and reinstall Windows. In addition, there are distros of Linux made and used to do computer forensic work, these are used by experienced computer security people to examine and clean up computers infected with viruses or malware.<br />
<br />
== Pros and Cons of running Linux ==<br />
<br />
'''PROS:'''<br />
Linux, due to its architecture, doesn't require defragging. Being a very small part of the overall market share for desktop computers, there are few Linux viruses to contend with, the virus writers concentrate on the Windows platform. Linux installs are generally much smaller than Windows installs and can run on much older hardware. Many old Windows XP machines that cannot handle Windows 7 and beyond do well with a Linux install. Linux is a free OS, there is no direct cost to the user. It is a very stable OS.<br />
<br />
'''CONS:'''<br />
While many modern distros are user friendly out of the box, there is a significant learning curve with Linux. Many basic operations work differently and are a bit more complex on Linux. Additionally, there are some software packages, not many, that are unavailable for Linux users. There has been significant improvement in gaming for Linux of late, but many games are simply not available. There is a Windows emulator for Linux, '''[[Wine]]''', [http://www.winehq.org/] but Windows software run in Wine doesn't always perform as well as it would in a native Windows environment. There are also some hardware driver issues for Linux users that require advanced expertise at times to overcome.</div>Cipherhttp://fileformats.archiveteam.org/wiki/LinuxLinux2013-01-25T11:45:57Z<p>Cipher: </p>
<hr />
<div>{|<br />
|[[Software]]<br />
| ><br />
|[[Operating Systems]]<br />
| ><br />
|[[Linux]]<br />
|}<br />
<br />
'''Linux''' [https://www.linux.com/] is an operating system (OS) closely related to '''Unix''' [http://www.unix.org/]. Linux is an Open Source OS which means that anyone can access the original source code and modify it to suit their purposes. This has resulted in the many different flavors of Linux referred to as distributions (distros). Linux is noted for being supported by many free software packages that replace the proprietary software used in many operating systems. There are free and open source word processors for example. <br />
<br />
== History: ==<br />
<br />
Linux started as the '''GNU Project''' [https://www.gnu.org/] which produced many software/utility packages for a future OS they wished to develop. Linus Torvalds created the Linux kernal, the heart of the OS, in 1991. Torvalds combined his kernal with the GNU software and Linux was born. [https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~awb/linux.history.html]<br />
<br />
== Who uses Linux? ==<br />
<br />
Linux is a very small fraction (about 2%) of desktop computers worldwide, however it is a leader in cellphones and tablets, it being the core of the Android OS. The Apple iOS and Android are the two major players in these markets. Additionally, the server market, in particular Internet Service Providers, is dominated by Unix and Linux machines with about 60% of that market.<br />
<br />
== Linux as Utility ==<br />
<br />
Many technicians supporting '''Microsoft Windows''' operating systems use a bootable '''Linux LiveCD/DVD''' [http://livecdlist.com/] to access hard drives to perform repairs and retrieve data that may be lost if their repair efforts require them to format and reinstall Windows. In addition, there are distros of Linux made and used to do computer forensic work, these are used by experienced computer security people to examine and clean up computers infected with viruses or malware.<br />
<br />
== Pros and Cons of running Linux ==<br />
<br />
'''PROS:'''<br />
Linux, due to its architecture, doesn't require defragging. Being a very small part of the overall market share for desktop computers, there are few Linux viruses to contend with, the virus writers concentrate on the Windows platform. Linux installs are generally much smaller than Windows installs and can run on much older hardware. Many old Windows XP machines that cannot handle Windows 7 and beyond do well with a Linux install. Linux is a free OS, there is no direct cost to the user. It is a very stable OS.<br />
<br />
'''CONS:'''<br />
While many modern distros are user friendly out of the box, there is a significant learning curve with Linux. Many basic operations work differently and are a bit more complex on Linux. Additionally, there are some software packages, not many, that are unavailable for Linux users. There has been significant improvement in gaming for Linux of late, but many games are simply not available. There is a Windows emulator for Linux, '''[[Wine]]''', [http://www.winehq.org/] but Windows software run in Wine doesn't always perform as well as it would in a native Windows environment. There are also some hardware driver issues for Linux users that require advanced expertise at times to overcome.</div>Cipherhttp://fileformats.archiveteam.org/wiki/GlossaryGlossary2013-01-25T11:33:47Z<p>Cipher: </p>
<hr />
<div>Some of the terms that might be encountered in descriptions of file formats:<br />
<br />
<br />
'''Analog''': A continuously-variable signal, as opposed to a digital representation which divides the data into little pieces that can be represented numerically, such as pixels in an image. An analog signal (for instance, the music encoded in the groove of a [[Gramophone record|record]] or the image on [[photographic film]]), has no "sampling rate" and can sometimes be analyzed down to higher resolutions than the original playback devices may have supported, though you eventually reach the limitations of the physical media involved. (''Analog'' is also a science fiction magazine, formerly named ''Astounding''.)<br />
<br />
'''Batch File:''' A script that contains commands and arguments to automate routine tasks. These commands and arguments can be run by typing them into the terminal or saved and run whenever needed saving time and effort. They can be edited if necessary to accomodate changes in the work environment they are used in.<br />
These scripts are mini programs that do narrowly defined tasks and are written in a text editor. Generally having to do with file and disk management, they can do many other things as well. They can written to ask for user input and respond accordingly. Many network administration tasks can be automated with batch files. They can also be used to control the behaviour of other programs.<br />
The commands and arguments in a batch file are executed in sequence. <br />
'''Batch files''' [http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb490869.aspx] are run by the '''command.com''' [http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/windows/xp/all/proddocs/en-us/ntcmds_shelloverview.mspx?mfr=true] program, and use the file extension '''.bat''' and can only be run on Windows machines.<br />
(''see '''Shell Scripts''' for similar files for Unix, Linux and Apple computers'')<br />
<br />
'''Baud''': Sometimes treated as a synonym for "bits per second" in transfer protocols, but not actually synonymous; it refers to the number of signal changes per second, e.g., in a modem. Early modems transferred one bit per signal change, so a 300-baud modem got 300 bits per second, but later modems used more sophisticated protocols that transferred multiple bytes per signal change by using more distinct types of signals, so "bps" (or "kbps", "mbps", etc.) is the more appropriate term to use when discussing the amount of data a device, network, or protocol can transfer.<br />
<br />
'''Big-Endian''': The system of storing numeric values which take up more than one byte in a manner in which the high-order byte comes first. If a number takes up more than 8 bits to store (e.g., an integer larger than 255), it must be divided between bytes, and it becomes an issue in file format definitions whether the "larger-valued" parts of the number come in the first byte or the last one. See [[Endianness]].<br />
<br />
'''Binary''': Base 2 numbers, consisting entirely of the digits 1 and 0. These are very important in computing, where everything is stored on a digital computer in the form of a series of binary digits, or bits. While all data formats are "binary" in this sense, usually "binary file format" is used to refer to a method of storing data that is something other than plain text; it consists of raw numbers which don't look like anything meaningful when brought up in a text editor. Even raw binary data is rarely displayed as actual 1s and 0s; developers usually use more compact notations such as hexadecimal or octal.<br />
<br />
'''Bit''': A single binary digit. In a computer it is stored in something analogous to a light switch, which can be turned on or off, representing digits 1 and 0 respectively. (Of course, a bit in computer memory is much smaller than a light switch; millions of them fit on a computer chip or optical or magnetic storage medium.)<br />
<br />
'''Byte''': A group of eight bits, sometimes also referred to as an "octet". This is how computer memory is traditionally organized. Usually a byte is treated as a unit, representing a number from 0 to 255 or else a text character in an encoding such as [[ASCII]], but some file formats delve into the individual bits; the 8 bits which make up a byte are arranged from the "high-order bit" to the "low-order bit" based on where they fall in the binary number represented by them; as with conventional decimal numbers, the leftmost one has the highest value and is the "high-order bit". (How they're physically arranged on the storage medium depends on the characteristics of the specific device. This is usually not of concern to programmers of anything above low-level device drivers and processor microcode; normal developers see only the abstract logical structure of the bits and bytes.) In raw memory dumps, a byte will often be displayed as two hexadecimal digits. (''Byte'' is also a computer magazine published since the 1970s.)<br />
<br />
'''Digital''': The inverse of "analog", meaning a set of data which has been digitized (if it originated in an analog medium), or else created natively on a digital device such as a computer. There are no continuously-variable quantities in a digital data set, only a set of discrete elements which can be converted into a series of bits for storage. Images, for instance, are broken up into pixels at some stated resolution, each of which can have one of a finite set of color values. Sounds are sampled at some sampling rate to capture the state of the sound wave at that point.<br />
<br />
'''Gigabyte''': 1024 (or 1000) megabytes. Once an exotic term in the days when computer memory and disk space was typically measured in kilobytes, it is now commonplace even in measuring the size of small and cheap [[thumb drive]]s.<br />
<br />
'''Hexadecimal''' (or "hex"): Numbers expressed in base 16. This works similarly to the base-10 decimal system usually used by humans (probably because we have ten fingers, if you include the thumbs), but with some extra digits to make up 16 digits in all, which comprise the numbers 0 through 9, plus the letters A through F (representing values of 10 through 15). Programmers use hexadecimal often, since 16 is a power of 2 and hence it is easier to translate between binary and hexadecimal than it is to get to and from decimal; each hexadecimal digit represents four binary digits (bits). A byte can be expressed with two hex digits, and a single hex digit (half a byte) is called a "nybble". Several notations have been used to express hexadecimal numbers and distinguish them from other bases, including the [[C]] notation of preceding the number with '''0x''' (e.g., '''0xABCD'''), the notation common on some early personal computers of using the dollar sign ($) before a hex number, and yet another notation of following the number with "h".<br />
<br />
'''Kilobit''': 1000 (or 1024) bits, or 1/8 of a kilobyte. Transfer protocols usually measure their speed in bits per second (or multiples thereof) rather than bytes, so you have to divide by 8 to get the number of bytes (or kilobytes, etc.) transferred in a second.<br />
<br />
'''Kilobyte''': Either 1000 bytes (the literal meaning of the metric prefix "kilo") or, more often, 1024 bytes (a power of two, which makes it a "round number" to a computer). Attempts to resolve the ambiguity by introducing a new term "kibibyte" for 1024 bytes to leave "kilobyte" meaning 1000 haven't gone anywhere.<br />
<br />
'''Little-Endian''': The system of storing numeric values which take up more than one byte in a manner in which the low-order byte comes first. If a number takes up more than 8 bits to store (e.g., an integer larger than 255), it must be divided between bytes, and it becomes an issue in file format definitions whether the "smaller-valued" parts of the number come in the first byte or the last one. See [[Endianness]].<br />
<br />
'''Megabyte''': 1024 (or sometimes 1000) kilobytes, or 1,048,576 (or 1,000,000) bytes. The ambiguity is between the use of strict decimal multiples (in keeping with the normal meaning of the metric prefixes), which comes more naturally to humans, or the powers-of-2-based multiples which come more naturally to computers.<br />
<br />
'''Octal''': Numbers expressed in base 8, using only the digits 0 through 7. Along with hexadecimal, this is a base often used by programmers, being a power of 2 and hence easy to convert from or to binary; in this case, it represents three bits. Some things, including Unix file permission levels, are commonly expressed in octal digits, but hexadecimal is better-suited to many other applications due to it fitting evenly within an 8-bit byte. In standard [[C]] notation, octal numbers are preceded by a leading zero.<br />
<br />
'''Petabyte''': 1024 (or 1000) terabytes. For now, this much storage still requires a large array of disk drives or other storage units, but if things keep going the way they've been for the last few decades, it wouldn't be surprising if you could carry this much storage in your pocket soon.<br />
<br />
'''Pixel''': One "picture element", a part of a graphic image as stored on a computer. If the image is 640 x 480, it consists of a matrix of pixels 640 wide and 480 high, for a total of 307,200 pixels. If each pixel can be one of 256 colors, this image can be stored in that number of bytes (or fewer if [[compression]] is applied), but most computer image formats these days have a larger color palette, thus requiring more bytes of storage.<br />
<br />
'''Shell Scripts:'''<br />
Linux, Unix and Apple systems have scripting schemes that do the same jobs that batch files ('''.bat''') do in Windows machines, and run are run from their terminals. They are called '''Shell Scripts''' [http://www.arachnoid.com/linux/shell_programming.html] and in Linux and unix typically use the file extension '''.sh''' although there are others sometimes used. For Apple computers the scripts are written in '''Applescript''' [https://developer.apple.com/library/mac/#documentation/AppleScript/Conceptual/AppleScriptX/AppleScriptX.html] and the file extension is '''.scpt'''. These scripts can have variables and flow control statements (e.g. goto, if-then-else, while, for,) <br />
Like their counterparts in Windows, these scripts are executable, and can be saved to automate tasks and be edited as needed. The file extension in Linux and Unix is not really required, what makes them what they are is controlled by the first line of the script itself and it needs to be made executable by the owner of the file. (''see '''Batch Files''' for Windows equivalent'')<br />
<br />
'''Terabyte''': 1024 (or 1000) gigabytes. A growing number of inexpensive storage units now support this much storage.<br />
<br />
'''Trinary''': Numbers expressed in base 3, using only the digits 0 through 2. This is not very commonly used in computing, since 3 is not a power of 2, but an experimental means of encoding data in [[DNA]] makes use of it, calling the individual digits "trits" analogously to "bits" being binary digits.</div>Cipherhttp://fileformats.archiveteam.org/wiki/LinuxLinux2013-01-25T11:16:13Z<p>Cipher: </p>
<hr />
<div>{|<br />
|[[Software]]<br />
| ><br />
|[[Operating Systems]]<br />
| ><br />
|[[Linux]]<br />
|}<br />
<br />
'''Linux''' [https://www.linux.com/] is an operating system (OS) closely related to '''Unix''' [http://www.unix.org/]. Linux is an Open Source OS which means that anyone can access the original source code and modify it to suit their purposes. This has resulted in the many different flavors of Linux referred to as distributions (distros). Linux is noted for being supported by many free software packages that replace the proprietary software used in many operating systems. There are free and open source word processors for example. <br />
<br />
== History: ==<br />
<br />
Linux started as the '''GNU Project''' [https://www.gnu.org/] which produced many software/utility packages for a future OS they wished to develop. Linus Torvalds created the Linux kernal, the heart of the OS, in 1991. Torvalds combined his kernal with the GNU software and Linux was born. [https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~awb/linux.history.html]<br />
<br />
== Who uses Linux? ==<br />
<br />
Linux is a very small fraction (about 2%) of desktop computers worldwide, however it is a leader in cellphones and tablets, it being the core of the Android OS. The Apple iOS and Android are the two major players in these markets. Additionally, the server market, in particular Internet Service Providers, is dominated by Unix and Linux machines with about 60% of that market.<br />
<br />
== Linux as Utility ==<br />
<br />
Many technicians supporting '''Microsoft Windows''' operating systems use a bootable '''Linux LiveCD/DVD''' [http://livecdlist.com/] to access hard drives to perform repairs and retrieve data that may be lost if their repair efforts require them to format and reinstall Windows. In addition, there are distros of Linux made and used to do computer forensic work, these are used by experienced computer security people to examine and clean up computers infected with viruses or malware.<br />
<br />
== Pros and Cons of running Linux ==<br />
<br />
'''PROS:'''<br />
Linux, due to its architecture, doesn't require defragging. Being a very small part of the overall market share for desktop computers, there are few Linux viruses to contend with, the virus writers concentrate on the Windows platform. Linux installs are generally much smaller than Windows installs and can run on much older hardware. Many old Windows XP machines that cannot handle Windows 7 and beyond do well with a Linux install. Linux is a free OS, there is no direct cost to the user. It is a very stable OS.<br />
<br />
'''CONS:'''<br />
While many modern distros are user friendly out of the box, there is a significant learning curve with Linux. Many basic operations work differently and are a bit more complex on Linux. Additionally, there are some software packages, not many, that are unavailable for Linux users. There has been significant improvement in gaming for Linux of late, but many games are simply not available. There is a Windows emulator for Linux, '''Wine''', [http://www.winehq.org/] but Windows software run in Wine doesn't always perform as well as it would in a native Windows environment. There are also some hardware driver issues for Linux users that require advanced expertise at times to overcome.</div>Cipherhttp://fileformats.archiveteam.org/wiki/LinuxLinux2013-01-25T11:14:58Z<p>Cipher: </p>
<hr />
<div>{|<br />
|[[Software]]<br />
| ><br />
|[[Operating Systems]]<br />
| ><br />
|[[Linux]]<br />
|}<br />
<br />
'''Linux''' [https://www.linux.com/] is an operating system (OS) closely related to '''Unix''' [http://www.unix.org/]. Linux is an Open Source OS which means that anyone can access the original source code and modify it to suit their purposes. This has resulted in the many different flavors of Linux referred to as distributions (distros). Linux is noted for being supported by many free software packages that replace the proprietary software used in many operating systems. There are free and open source word processors for example. <br />
<br />
== History: ==<br />
<br />
Linux started as the '''GNU Project''' [https://www.gnu.org/] which produced many software/utility packages for a future OS they wished to develop. Linus Torvalds created the Linux kernal, the heart of the OS, in 1991. Torvalds combined his kernal with the GNU software and Linux was born. [https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~awb/linux.history.html]<br />
<br />
== Who uses Linux? ==<br />
<br />
Linux is a very small fraction (about 2%) of desktop computers worldwide, however it is a leader in cellphones and tablets, it being the core of the Android OS. The Apple iOS and Android are the two major players in these markets. Additionally, the server market, in particular Internet Service Providers, is dominated by Unix and Linux machines with about 60% of that market.<br />
<br />
== Linux as Utility ==<br />
<br />
Many technicians supporting '''Microsoft Windows''' operating systems use a bootable '''Linux LiveCD/DVD''' [http://livecdlist.com/] to access hard drives to perform repairs and retrieve data that may be lost if their repair efforts require them to format and reinstall Windows. In addition, there are distros of Linux made and used to do computer forensic work, these are used by experienced computer security people to examine and clean up computers infected with viruses or malware.<br />
<br />
== Pros and Cons of running Linux ==<br />
<br />
'''PROS:'''<br />
Linux, due to its architecture, doesn't require defragging. Being a very small part of the overall market share for desktop computers, there are few Linux viruses to contend with, the virus writers concentrate on the Windows platform. Linux installs are generally much smaller than Windows installs and can run on much older hardware. Many old Windows XP machines that cannot handle Windows 7 and beyond do well with a Linux install. Linux is a free OS, there is no direct cost to the user. It is a very stable OS.<br />
<br />
'''CONS:'''<br />
While many modern distros are user friendly out of the box, there is a significant learning curve with Linux. Many basic operations work differently and are a bit more complex on Linux. Additionally, there are some software packages, not many, that are unavailable for Linux users. There has been significant improvement in gaming for Linux of late, but many games are simply not available. There is a Windows emulator for Linux, '''Wine''', [http://www.winehq.org/] but it doesn't always perform as well as a native Windows environment. There are also some hardware driver issues for Linux users that require advanced expertise at times to overcome.</div>Cipherhttp://fileformats.archiveteam.org/wiki/LinuxLinux2013-01-25T11:12:29Z<p>Cipher: </p>
<hr />
<div>{|<br />
|[[Software]]<br />
| ><br />
|[[Operating Systems]]<br />
| ><br />
|[[Linux]]<br />
|}<br />
<br />
'''Linux''' [https://www.linux.com/] is an operating system (OS) closely related to '''Unix''' [http://www.unix.org/]. Linux is an Open Source OS which means that anyone can access the original source code and modify it to suit their purposes. This has resulted in the many different flavors of Linux referred to as distributions (distros). Linux is noted for being supported by many free software packages that replace the proprietary software used in many operating systems. There are free and open source word processors for example. <br />
<br />
== History: ==<br />
<br />
Linux started as the '''GNU Project''' [https://www.gnu.org/] which produced many software/utility packages for a future OS they wished to develop. Linus Torvalds created the Linux kernal, the heart of the OS, in 1991. Torvalds combined his kernal with the GNU software and Linux was born. [https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~awb/linux.history.html]<br />
<br />
== Who uses Linux? ==<br />
<br />
Linux is a very small fraction (about 2%) of desktop computers worldwide, however it is a leader in cellphones and tablets, it being the core of the Android OS. The Apple iOS and Android are the two major players in these markets. Additionally, the server market, in particular Internet Service Providers, is dominated by Unix and Linux machines with about 60% of that market.<br />
<br />
== Linux as Utility ==<br />
<br />
Many technicians supporting '''Microsoft Windows''' operating systems use a bootable '''Linux LiveCD/DVD''' [http://livecdlist.com/] to access hard drives to perform repairs and retrieve data that may be lost if their repair efforts require them to format and reinstall Windows. In addition, there are distros of Linux made to do computer forensic work with, these are used by experienced computer security people to examine and clean up computers infected with viruses or malware.<br />
<br />
== Pros and Cons of running Linux ==<br />
<br />
'''PROS:'''<br />
Linux, due to its architecture, doesn't require defragging. Being a very small part of the overall market share for desktop computers, there are few Linux viruses to contend with, the virus writers concentrate on the Windows platform. Linux installs are generally much smaller than Windows installs and can run on much older hardware. Many old Windows XP machines that cannot handle Windows 7 and beyond do well with a Linux install. Linux is a free OS, there is no direct cost to the user. It is a very stable OS.<br />
<br />
'''CONS:'''<br />
While many modern distros are user friendly out of the box, there is a significant learning curve with Linux. Many basic operations work differently and are a bit more complex on Linux. Additionally, there are some software packages, not many, that are unavailable for Linux users. There has been significant improvement in gaming for Linux of late, but many games are simply not available. There is a Windows emulator for Linux, '''Wine''', [http://www.winehq.org/] but it doesn't always perform as well as a native Windows environment. There are also some hardware driver issues for Linux users that require advanced expertise at times to overcome.</div>Cipherhttp://fileformats.archiveteam.org/wiki/GlossaryGlossary2013-01-25T05:40:15Z<p>Cipher: </p>
<hr />
<div>Some of the terms that might be encountered in descriptions of file formats:<br />
<br />
<br />
'''Analog''': A continuously-variable signal, as opposed to a digital representation which divides the data into little pieces that can be represented numerically, such as pixels in an image. An analog signal (for instance, the music encoded in the groove of a [[Gramophone record|record]] or the image on [[photographic film]]), has no "sampling rate" and can sometimes be analyzed down to higher resolutions than the original playback devices may have supported, though you eventually reach the limitations of the physical media involved. (''Analog'' is also a science fiction magazine, formerly named ''Astounding''.)<br />
<br />
'''Batch File:''' A script that contains commands and arguments to automate routine tasks. These commands and arguments can be run by typing them into the terminal or saved and run whenever needed saving time and effort. They can be edited if necessary to accomodate changes in the work environment they are used in.<br />
These scripts are mini programs that do narrowly defined tasks and are written in a text editor. Generally having to do with file and disk management, they can do many other things as well. They can written to ask for user input and respond accordingly. Many network administration tasks can be automated with batch files. They can also be used to control the behaviour of other programs.<br />
The commands and arguments in a batch file are executed in sequence. <br />
Batch files are run by the command.com program, and use the file extension '''.bat''' and can only be run on Windows machines.<br />
(''see '''Shell Scripts''' for similar files for Unix, Linux and Apple computers'')<br />
<br />
'''Baud''': Sometimes treated as a synonym for "bits per second" in transfer protocols, but not actually synonymous; it refers to the number of signal changes per second, e.g., in a modem. Early modems transferred one bit per signal change, so a 300-baud modem got 300 bits per second, but later modems used more sophisticated protocols that transferred multiple bytes per signal change by using more distinct types of signals, so "bps" (or "kbps", "mbps", etc.) is the more appropriate term to use when discussing the amount of data a device, network, or protocol can transfer.<br />
<br />
'''Big-Endian''': The system of storing numeric values which take up more than one byte in a manner in which the high-order byte comes first. If a number takes up more than 8 bits to store (e.g., an integer larger than 255), it must be divided between bytes, and it becomes an issue in file format definitions whether the "larger-valued" parts of the number come in the first byte or the last one. See [[Endianness]].<br />
<br />
'''Binary''': Base 2 numbers, consisting entirely of the digits 1 and 0. These are very important in computing, where everything is stored on a digital computer in the form of a series of binary digits, or bits. While all data formats are "binary" in this sense, usually "binary file format" is used to refer to a method of storing data that is something other than plain text; it consists of raw numbers which don't look like anything meaningful when brought up in a text editor. Even raw binary data is rarely displayed as actual 1s and 0s; developers usually use more compact notations such as hexadecimal or octal.<br />
<br />
'''Bit''': A single binary digit. In a computer it is stored in something analogous to a light switch, which can be turned on or off, representing digits 1 and 0 respectively. (Of course, a bit in computer memory is much smaller than a light switch; millions of them fit on a computer chip or optical or magnetic storage medium.)<br />
<br />
'''Byte''': A group of eight bits, sometimes also referred to as an "octet". This is how computer memory is traditionally organized. Usually a byte is treated as a unit, representing a number from 0 to 255 or else a text character in an encoding such as [[ASCII]], but some file formats delve into the individual bits; the 8 bits which make up a byte are arranged from the "high-order bit" to the "low-order bit" based on where they fall in the binary number represented by them; as with conventional decimal numbers, the leftmost one has the highest value and is the "high-order bit". (How they're physically arranged on the storage medium depends on the characteristics of the specific device. This is usually not of concern to programmers of anything above low-level device drivers and processor microcode; normal developers see only the abstract logical structure of the bits and bytes.) In raw memory dumps, a byte will often be displayed as two hexadecimal digits. (''Byte'' is also a computer magazine published since the 1970s.)<br />
<br />
'''Digital''': The inverse of "analog", meaning a set of data which has been digitized (if it originated in an analog medium), or else created natively on a digital device such as a computer. There are no continuously-variable quantities in a digital data set, only a set of discrete elements which can be converted into a series of bits for storage. Images, for instance, are broken up into pixels at some stated resolution, each of which can have one of a finite set of color values. Sounds are sampled at some sampling rate to capture the state of the sound wave at that point.<br />
<br />
'''Gigabyte''': 1024 (or 1000) megabytes. Once an exotic term in the days when computer memory and disk space was typically measured in kilobytes, it is now commonplace even in measuring the size of small and cheap [[thumb drive]]s.<br />
<br />
'''Hexadecimal''' (or "hex"): Numbers expressed in base 16. This works similarly to the base-10 decimal system usually used by humans (probably because we have ten fingers, if you include the thumbs), but with some extra digits to make up 16 digits in all, which comprise the numbers 0 through 9, plus the letters A through F (representing values of 10 through 15). Programmers use hexadecimal often, since 16 is a power of 2 and hence it is easier to translate between binary and hexadecimal than it is to get to and from decimal; each hexadecimal digit represents four binary digits (bits). A byte can be expressed with two hex digits, and a single hex digit (half a byte) is called a "nybble". Several notations have been used to express hexadecimal numbers and distinguish them from other bases, including the [[C]] notation of preceding the number with '''0x''' (e.g., '''0xABCD'''), the notation common on some early personal computers of using the dollar sign ($) before a hex number, and yet another notation of following the number with "h".<br />
<br />
'''Kilobit''': 1000 (or 1024) bits, or 1/8 of a kilobyte. Transfer protocols usually measure their speed in bits per second (or multiples thereof) rather than bytes, so you have to divide by 8 to get the number of bytes (or kilobytes, etc.) transferred in a second.<br />
<br />
'''Kilobyte''': Either 1000 bytes (the literal meaning of the metric prefix "kilo") or, more often, 1024 bytes (a power of two, which makes it a "round number" to a computer). Attempts to resolve the ambiguity by introducing a new term "kibibyte" for 1024 bytes to leave "kilobyte" meaning 1000 haven't gone anywhere.<br />
<br />
'''Little-Endian''': The system of storing numeric values which take up more than one byte in a manner in which the low-order byte comes first. If a number takes up more than 8 bits to store (e.g., an integer larger than 255), it must be divided between bytes, and it becomes an issue in file format definitions whether the "smaller-valued" parts of the number come in the first byte or the last one. See [[Endianness]].<br />
<br />
'''Megabyte''': 1024 (or sometimes 1000) kilobytes, or 1,048,576 (or 1,000,000) bytes. The ambiguity is between the use of strict decimal multiples (in keeping with the normal meaning of the metric prefixes), which comes more naturally to humans, or the powers-of-2-based multiples which come more naturally to computers.<br />
<br />
'''Octal''': Numbers expressed in base 8, using only the digits 0 through 7. Along with hexadecimal, this is a base often used by programmers, being a power of 2 and hence easy to convert from or to binary; in this case, it represents three bits. Some things, including Unix file permission levels, are commonly expressed in octal digits, but hexadecimal is better-suited to many other applications due to it fitting evenly within an 8-bit byte. In standard [[C]] notation, octal numbers are preceded by a leading zero.<br />
<br />
'''Petabyte''': 1024 (or 1000) terabytes. For now, this much storage still requires a large array of disk drives or other storage units, but if things keep going the way they've been for the last few decades, it wouldn't be surprising if you could carry this much storage in your pocket soon.<br />
<br />
'''Pixel''': One "picture element", a part of a graphic image as stored on a computer. If the image is 640 x 480, it consists of a matrix of pixels 640 wide and 480 high, for a total of 307,200 pixels. If each pixel can be one of 256 colors, this image can be stored in that number of bytes (or fewer if [[compression]] is applied), but most computer image formats these days have a larger color palette, thus requiring more bytes of storage.<br />
<br />
'''Shell Scripts:'''<br />
Linux, Unix and Apple systems have scripting schemes that do the same jobs that batch files ('''.bat''') do in Windows machines, and run are run from their terminals. They are called shell scripts and in Linux and unix typically use the file extension '''.sh''' although there are others sometimes used. For Apple computers the file extension is '''.scpt'''. These scripts can have variables and flow control statements (e.g. goto, if-then-else, while, for,) <br />
Like their counterparts in Windows, these scripts are executable, and can be saved to automate tasks and be edited as needed. The file extension in Linux and Unix is not really required, what makes them what they are is controlled by the first line of the script itself and it needs to be made executable by the owner of the file. (''see '''Batch Files''' for Windows equivalent'')<br />
<br />
'''Terabyte''': 1024 (or 1000) gigabytes. A growing number of inexpensive storage units now support this much storage.<br />
<br />
'''Trinary''': Numbers expressed in base 3, using only the digits 0 through 2. This is not very commonly used in computing, since 3 is not a power of 2, but an experimental means of encoding data in [[DNA]] makes use of it, calling the individual digits "trits" analogously to "bits" being binary digits.</div>Cipherhttp://fileformats.archiveteam.org/wiki/User_talk:CipherUser talk:Cipher2013-01-25T05:39:19Z<p>Cipher: </p>
<hr />
<div>Perhaps a technology dictionary of some sort would be helpful to explain some terms...<br />
<br />
:I've started up a [[Glossary]]; feel free to add to it.<br />
<br />
I notice it refers to terms one might encounter browsing file formats. What I thought would be helpful would be an all purpose computer dictionary. To cover terms a reader might run across in other parts of the wiki. Just a thought...<br />
<br />
:I tried to be pretty general in my selections. [[User:Dan Tobias|Dan Tobias]] ([[User talk:Dan Tobias|talk]]) 05:34, 25 January 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
OK, will follow your lead... :-)</div>Cipherhttp://fileformats.archiveteam.org/wiki/GlossaryGlossary2013-01-25T05:38:41Z<p>Cipher: </p>
<hr />
<div>Some of the terms that might be encountered in descriptions of file formats:<br />
<br />
'''Batch File:''' A script that contains commands and arguments to automate routine tasks. These commands and arguments can be run by typing them into the terminal or saved and run whenever needed saving time and effort. They can be edited if necessary to accomodate changes in the work environment they are used in.<br />
These scripts are mini programs that do narrowly defined tasks and are written in a text editor. Generally having to do with file and disk management, they can do many other things as well. They can written to ask for user input and respond accordingly. Many network administration tasks can be automated with batch files. They can also be used to control the behaviour of other programs.<br />
The commands and arguments in a batch file are executed in sequence. <br />
Batch files are run by the command.com program, and use the file extension '''.bat''' and can only be run on Windows machines.<br />
(''see '''Shell Scripts''' for similar files for Unix, Linux and Apple computers'')<br />
<br />
'''Analog''': A continuously-variable signal, as opposed to a digital representation which divides the data into little pieces that can be represented numerically, such as pixels in an image. An analog signal (for instance, the music encoded in the groove of a [[Gramophone record|record]] or the image on [[photographic film]]), has no "sampling rate" and can sometimes be analyzed down to higher resolutions than the original playback devices may have supported, though you eventually reach the limitations of the physical media involved. (''Analog'' is also a science fiction magazine, formerly named ''Astounding''.)<br />
<br />
'''Baud''': Sometimes treated as a synonym for "bits per second" in transfer protocols, but not actually synonymous; it refers to the number of signal changes per second, e.g., in a modem. Early modems transferred one bit per signal change, so a 300-baud modem got 300 bits per second, but later modems used more sophisticated protocols that transferred multiple bytes per signal change by using more distinct types of signals, so "bps" (or "kbps", "mbps", etc.) is the more appropriate term to use when discussing the amount of data a device, network, or protocol can transfer.<br />
<br />
'''Big-Endian''': The system of storing numeric values which take up more than one byte in a manner in which the high-order byte comes first. If a number takes up more than 8 bits to store (e.g., an integer larger than 255), it must be divided between bytes, and it becomes an issue in file format definitions whether the "larger-valued" parts of the number come in the first byte or the last one. See [[Endianness]].<br />
<br />
'''Binary''': Base 2 numbers, consisting entirely of the digits 1 and 0. These are very important in computing, where everything is stored on a digital computer in the form of a series of binary digits, or bits. While all data formats are "binary" in this sense, usually "binary file format" is used to refer to a method of storing data that is something other than plain text; it consists of raw numbers which don't look like anything meaningful when brought up in a text editor. Even raw binary data is rarely displayed as actual 1s and 0s; developers usually use more compact notations such as hexadecimal or octal.<br />
<br />
'''Bit''': A single binary digit. In a computer it is stored in something analogous to a light switch, which can be turned on or off, representing digits 1 and 0 respectively. (Of course, a bit in computer memory is much smaller than a light switch; millions of them fit on a computer chip or optical or magnetic storage medium.)<br />
<br />
'''Byte''': A group of eight bits, sometimes also referred to as an "octet". This is how computer memory is traditionally organized. Usually a byte is treated as a unit, representing a number from 0 to 255 or else a text character in an encoding such as [[ASCII]], but some file formats delve into the individual bits; the 8 bits which make up a byte are arranged from the "high-order bit" to the "low-order bit" based on where they fall in the binary number represented by them; as with conventional decimal numbers, the leftmost one has the highest value and is the "high-order bit". (How they're physically arranged on the storage medium depends on the characteristics of the specific device. This is usually not of concern to programmers of anything above low-level device drivers and processor microcode; normal developers see only the abstract logical structure of the bits and bytes.) In raw memory dumps, a byte will often be displayed as two hexadecimal digits. (''Byte'' is also a computer magazine published since the 1970s.)<br />
<br />
'''Digital''': The inverse of "analog", meaning a set of data which has been digitized (if it originated in an analog medium), or else created natively on a digital device such as a computer. There are no continuously-variable quantities in a digital data set, only a set of discrete elements which can be converted into a series of bits for storage. Images, for instance, are broken up into pixels at some stated resolution, each of which can have one of a finite set of color values. Sounds are sampled at some sampling rate to capture the state of the sound wave at that point.<br />
<br />
'''Gigabyte''': 1024 (or 1000) megabytes. Once an exotic term in the days when computer memory and disk space was typically measured in kilobytes, it is now commonplace even in measuring the size of small and cheap [[thumb drive]]s.<br />
<br />
'''Hexadecimal''' (or "hex"): Numbers expressed in base 16. This works similarly to the base-10 decimal system usually used by humans (probably because we have ten fingers, if you include the thumbs), but with some extra digits to make up 16 digits in all, which comprise the numbers 0 through 9, plus the letters A through F (representing values of 10 through 15). Programmers use hexadecimal often, since 16 is a power of 2 and hence it is easier to translate between binary and hexadecimal than it is to get to and from decimal; each hexadecimal digit represents four binary digits (bits). A byte can be expressed with two hex digits, and a single hex digit (half a byte) is called a "nybble". Several notations have been used to express hexadecimal numbers and distinguish them from other bases, including the [[C]] notation of preceding the number with '''0x''' (e.g., '''0xABCD'''), the notation common on some early personal computers of using the dollar sign ($) before a hex number, and yet another notation of following the number with "h".<br />
<br />
'''Kilobit''': 1000 (or 1024) bits, or 1/8 of a kilobyte. Transfer protocols usually measure their speed in bits per second (or multiples thereof) rather than bytes, so you have to divide by 8 to get the number of bytes (or kilobytes, etc.) transferred in a second.<br />
<br />
'''Kilobyte''': Either 1000 bytes (the literal meaning of the metric prefix "kilo") or, more often, 1024 bytes (a power of two, which makes it a "round number" to a computer). Attempts to resolve the ambiguity by introducing a new term "kibibyte" for 1024 bytes to leave "kilobyte" meaning 1000 haven't gone anywhere.<br />
<br />
'''Little-Endian''': The system of storing numeric values which take up more than one byte in a manner in which the low-order byte comes first. If a number takes up more than 8 bits to store (e.g., an integer larger than 255), it must be divided between bytes, and it becomes an issue in file format definitions whether the "smaller-valued" parts of the number come in the first byte or the last one. See [[Endianness]].<br />
<br />
'''Megabyte''': 1024 (or sometimes 1000) kilobytes, or 1,048,576 (or 1,000,000) bytes. The ambiguity is between the use of strict decimal multiples (in keeping with the normal meaning of the metric prefixes), which comes more naturally to humans, or the powers-of-2-based multiples which come more naturally to computers.<br />
<br />
'''Octal''': Numbers expressed in base 8, using only the digits 0 through 7. Along with hexadecimal, this is a base often used by programmers, being a power of 2 and hence easy to convert from or to binary; in this case, it represents three bits. Some things, including Unix file permission levels, are commonly expressed in octal digits, but hexadecimal is better-suited to many other applications due to it fitting evenly within an 8-bit byte. In standard [[C]] notation, octal numbers are preceded by a leading zero.<br />
<br />
'''Petabyte''': 1024 (or 1000) terabytes. For now, this much storage still requires a large array of disk drives or other storage units, but if things keep going the way they've been for the last few decades, it wouldn't be surprising if you could carry this much storage in your pocket soon.<br />
<br />
'''Pixel''': One "picture element", a part of a graphic image as stored on a computer. If the image is 640 x 480, it consists of a matrix of pixels 640 wide and 480 high, for a total of 307,200 pixels. If each pixel can be one of 256 colors, this image can be stored in that number of bytes (or fewer if [[compression]] is applied), but most computer image formats these days have a larger color palette, thus requiring more bytes of storage.<br />
<br />
'''Shell Scripts:'''<br />
Linux, Unix and Apple systems have scripting schemes that do the same jobs that batch files ('''.bat''') do in Windows machines, and run are run from their terminals. They are called shell scripts and in Linux and unix typically use the file extension '''.sh''' although there are others sometimes used. For Apple computers the file extension is '''.scpt'''. These scripts can have variables and flow control statements (e.g. goto, if-then-else, while, for,) <br />
Like their counterparts in Windows, these scripts are executable, and can be saved to automate tasks and be edited as needed. The file extension in Linux and Unix is not really required, what makes them what they are is controlled by the first line of the script itself and it needs to be made executable by the owner of the file. (''see '''Batch Files''' for Windows equivalent'')<br />
<br />
'''Terabyte''': 1024 (or 1000) gigabytes. A growing number of inexpensive storage units now support this much storage.<br />
<br />
'''Trinary''': Numbers expressed in base 3, using only the digits 0 through 2. This is not very commonly used in computing, since 3 is not a power of 2, but an experimental means of encoding data in [[DNA]] makes use of it, calling the individual digits "trits" analogously to "bits" being binary digits.</div>Cipherhttp://fileformats.archiveteam.org/wiki/User_talk:CipherUser talk:Cipher2013-01-25T04:51:05Z<p>Cipher: </p>
<hr />
<div>Perhaps a technology dictionary of some sort would be helpful to explain some terms...<br />
<br />
:I've started up a [[Glossary]]; feel free to add to it.<br />
<br />
I notice it refers to terms one might encounter browsing file formats. What I thought would be helpful would be an all purpose computer dictionary. To cover terms a reader might run across in other parts of the wiki. Just a thought...</div>Cipherhttp://fileformats.archiveteam.org/wiki/LinuxLinux2013-01-23T22:17:13Z<p>Cipher: </p>
<hr />
<div>{|<br />
|[[Software]]<br />
| ><br />
|[[Operating Systems]]<br />
| ><br />
|[[Linux]]<br />
|}<br />
<br />
'''Linux''' [https://www.linux.com/] is an operating system (OS) closely related to '''Unix''' [http://www.unix.org/]. Linux is an Open Source OS which means that anyone can access the original source code and modify it to suit their purposes. This has resulted in the many different flavors of Linux referred to as distributions (distros). Linux is noted for being supported by many free software packages that replace the proprietary software used in many operating systems. There are free and open source word processors for example. <br />
<br />
== History: ==<br />
<br />
Linux started as the '''GNU Project''' [https://www.gnu.org/] which produced many software/utility packages for a future OS they wished to develop. Linus Torvalds created the Linux kernal, the heart of the OS, in 1991. Torvalds combined his kernal with the GNU software and Linux was born.<br />
<br />
== Who uses Linux? ==<br />
<br />
Linux is a very small fraction (about 2%) of desktop computers worldwide, however it is a leader in cellphones and tablets, it being the core of the Android OS. The Apple iOS and Android are the two major players in these markets. Additionally, the server market, in particular Internet Service Providers, is dominated by Unix and Linux machines with about 60% of that market.<br />
<br />
== Linux as Utility ==<br />
<br />
Many technicians supporting '''Microsoft Windows''' operating systems use a bootable '''Linux LiveCD/DVD''' [http://livecdlist.com/] to access hard drives to perform repairs and retrieve data that may be lost if their repair efforts require them to format and reinstall Windows. In addition, there are distros of Linux made to do computer forensic work with, these are used by experienced computer security people to examine and clean up computers infected with viruses or malware.<br />
<br />
== Pros and Cons of running Linux ==<br />
<br />
'''PROS:'''<br />
Linux, due to its architecture, doesn't require defragging. Being a very small part of the overall market share for desktop computers, there are few Linux viruses to contend with, the virus writers concentrate on the Windows platform. Linux installs are generally much smaller than Windows installs and can run on much older hardware. Many old Windows XP machines that cannot handle Windows 7 and beyond do well with a Linux install. Linux is a free OS, there is no direct cost to the user. It is a very stable OS.<br />
<br />
'''CONS:'''<br />
While many modern distros are user friendly out of the box, there is a significant learning curve with Linux. Many basic operations work differently and are a bit more complex on Linux. Additionally, there are some software packages, not many, that are unavailable for Linux users. There has been significant improvement in gaming for Linux of late, but many games are simply not available. There is a Windows emulator for Linux, '''Wine''', [http://www.winehq.org/] but it doesn't always perform as well as a native Windows environment. There are also some hardware driver issues for Linux users that require advanced expertise at times to overcome.</div>Cipherhttp://fileformats.archiveteam.org/wiki/User:CipherUser:Cipher2013-01-23T20:16:24Z<p>Cipher: </p>
<hr />
<div>About me:<br />
<br />
IT tech for Windows, Linux and Apple systems. Have run every Windows OS since 3.1, every Apple OS since 6.0, and run Mint Linux, Debian, Scientific Linux, and Puppy to name a few.<br />
<br />
Started on the Internet back in 1996 using a 14k modem making a slip connection to a state education network. Wrote JCL at the university I was employed at by day, and telneted into the mainframe at night from home to compile and error check using a Macintosh running OS 9. Moved from there into desktop/lan support where, in addition to typical desktop support, created Novell App Launcher pushes to distribute software to end users. I managed a WUS server as well.<br />
<br />
I have been active on Usenet since 1998, notably helping to form news.newusers.questions where I served as a moderator for a time. Those good people still list me as Moderator Emeritus :-) I shamelessly stole Randall Nelson's alt.cesium FAQ and maintain it and other Cesium related docs at alt.cesium to this day.<br />
<br />
I dabble in creating executable programs for the windows platform, notably encryption software.<br />
<br />
I have a few personal websites with Windows XP and Linux help/support for friends to reference.</div>Cipherhttp://fileformats.archiveteam.org/wiki/LinuxLinux2013-01-23T20:13:54Z<p>Cipher: </p>
<hr />
<div>{|<br />
|[[Software]]<br />
| ><br />
|[[Operating Systems]]<br />
| ><br />
|[[Linux]]<br />
|}<br />
<br />
'''Linux''' [https://www.linux.com/] is an operating system (OS) closely related to '''Unix''' [http://www.unix.org/]. Linux is an Open Source OS which means that anyone can access the original source code and modify it to suit their purposes. This has resulted in the many different flavors of Linux referred to as distributions (distros). Linux is noted for being supported by many free software packages that replace the proprietary software used in many operating systems. There are free and open source word processors for example.<br />
<br />
== History: ==<br />
<br />
Linux started as the '''GNU Project''' [https://www.gnu.org/] which produced many software/utility packages for a future OS they wished to develop. Linus Torvalds created the Linux kernal, the heart of the OS, in 1991. Torvalds combined his kernal with the GNU software and Linux was born.<br />
<br />
== Linux as Utility ==<br />
<br />
Many technicians supporting '''Microsoft Windows''' operating systems use a bootable '''Linux LiveCD/DVD''' [http://livecdlist.com/] to access hard drives to perform repairs and retrieve data that may be lost if their repair efforts require them to format and reinstall Windows. In addition, there are distros of Linux made to do computer forensic work with, these are used by experienced computer security people to examine and clean up computers infected with viruses or malware.<br />
<br />
<br />
== Pros and Cons of running Linux ==<br />
<br />
'''PROS:'''<br />
Linux, due to its architecture, doesn't require defragging. Being a very small part of the overall market share for desktop computers, there are few Linux viruses to contend with, the virus writers concentrate on the Windows platform. Linux installs are generally much smaller than Windows installs and can run on much older hardware. Many old Windows XP machines that cannot handle Windows 7 and beyond do well with a Linux install. Linux is a free OS, there is no direct cost to the user. It is a very stable OS.<br />
<br />
'''CONS:'''<br />
While many modern distros are user friendly out of the box, there is a significant learning curve with Linux. Many basic operations work differently and are a bit more complex on Linux. Additionally, there are some software packages, not many, that are unavailable for Linux users. There has been significant improvement in gaming for Linux of late, but many games are simply not available. There is a Windows emulator for Linux, '''Wine''', [http://www.winehq.org/] but it doesn't always perform as well as a native Windows environment. There are also some hardware driver issues for Linux users that require advanced expertise at times to overcome.</div>Cipherhttp://fileformats.archiveteam.org/wiki/User_talk:CipherUser talk:Cipher2013-01-23T20:10:28Z<p>Cipher: </p>
<hr />
<div>Perhaps a technology dictionary of some sort would be helpful to explain some terms...</div>Cipherhttp://fileformats.archiveteam.org/wiki/User_talk:CipherUser talk:Cipher2013-01-23T20:10:00Z<p>Cipher: Dictionary of Terms?</p>
<hr />
<div>Perhaps a technology dictionary of some sort would be helpful to expalin some terms...</div>Cipherhttp://fileformats.archiveteam.org/wiki/LinuxLinux2013-01-23T20:06:00Z<p>Cipher: </p>
<hr />
<div>{|<br />
|[[Software]]<br />
| ><br />
|[[Operating Systems]]<br />
| ><br />
|[[Linux]]<br />
|}<br />
<br />
'''Linux''' is an operating system (OS) closely related to '''Unix''' [http://www.unix.org/]. Linux is an Open Source OS which means that anyone can access the original source code and modify it to suit their purposes. This has resulted in the many different flavors of Linux referred to as distributions (distros). Linux is noted for being supported by many free software packages that replace the proprietary software used in many operating systems. There are free and open source word processors for example.<br />
<br />
== History: ==<br />
<br />
Linux started as the '''GNU Project''' [https://www.gnu.org/] which produced many software/utility packages for a future OS they wished to develop. Linus Torvalds created the Linux kernal, the heart of the OS, in 1991. Torvalds combined his kernal with the GNU software and Linux was born.<br />
<br />
== Linux as Utility ==<br />
<br />
Many technicians supporting '''Microsoft Windows''' operating systems use a bootable '''Linux LiveCD/DVD''' [http://livecdlist.com/] to access hard drives to perform repairs and retrieve data that may be lost if their repair efforts require them to format and reinstall Windows. In addition, there are distros of Linux made to do computer forensic work with, these are used by experienced computer security people to examine and clean up computers infected with viruses or malware.<br />
<br />
<br />
== Pros and Cons of running Linux ==<br />
<br />
'''PROS:'''<br />
Linux, due to its architecture, doesn't require defragging. Being a very small part of the overall market share for desktop computers, there are few Linux viruses to contend with, the virus writers concentrate on the Windows platform. Linux installs are generally much smaller than Windows installs and can run on much older hardware. Many old Windows XP machines that cannot handle Windows 7 and beyond do well with a Linux install. Linux is a free OS, there is no direct cost to the user. It is a very stable OS.<br />
<br />
'''CONS:'''<br />
While many modern distros are user friendly out of the box, there is a significant learning curve with Linux. Many basic operations work differently and are a bit more complex on Linux. Additionally, there are some software packages, not many, that are unavailable for Linux users. There has been significant improvement in gaming for Linux of late, but many games are simply not available. There is a Windows emulator for Linux, '''Wine''', [http://www.winehq.org/] but it doesn't always perform as well as a native Windows environment. There are also some hardware driver issues for Linux users that require advanced expertise at times to overcome.</div>Cipherhttp://fileformats.archiveteam.org/wiki/LinuxLinux2013-01-23T20:05:38Z<p>Cipher: </p>
<hr />
<div>{|<br />
|[[Software]]<br />
| ><br />
|[[Operating Systems]]<br />
| ><br />
|[[Linux]]<br />
|}<br />
<br />
'''Linux''' is an operating system (OS) closely related to '''Unix''' [http://www.unix.org/]. Linux is an Open Source OS which means that anyone can access the original source code and modify it to suit their purposes. This has resulted in the many different flavors of Linux referred to as distributions (distros). Linux is noted for being supported by many free software packages that replace the proprietary software used in many operating systems. There are free and open source word processors for example.<br />
<br />
== History: ==<br />
<br />
Linux started as the '''GNU Project''' [https://www.gnu.org/] which produced many software/utility packages for a future OS they wished to develop. Linus Torvalds created the Linux kernal, the heart of the OS, in 1991. Torvalds combined his kernal with the GNU software and Linux was born.<br />
<br />
== Linux as Utility ==<br />
<br />
Many technicians supporting '''Microsoft Windows''' operating systems use a bootable '''Linux LiveCD/DVD''' [http://livecdlist.com/] to access hard drives to perform repairs and retrieve data that may be lost if their repair efforts require them to format and reinstall Windows. In addition, there are distros of Linux made to do computer forensic work with, these are used by experienced computer security people to examine and clean up computers infected with viruses or malware.<br />
<br />
<br />
== Pros and Cons of running Linux ==<br />
<br />
'''PROS:'''<br />
Linux, due to its architecture doesn't require defragging. Being a very small part of the overall market share for desktop computers, there are few Linux viruses to contend with, the virus writers concentrate on the Windows platform. Linux installs are generally much smaller than Windows installs and can run on much older hardware. Many old Windows XP machines that cannot handle Windows 7 and beyond do well with a Linux install. Linux is a free OS, there is no direct cost to the user. It is a very stable OS.<br />
<br />
'''CONS:'''<br />
While many modern distros are user friendly out of the box, there is a significant learning curve with Linux. Many basic operations work differently and are a bit more complex on Linux. Additionally, there are some software packages, not many, that are unavailable for Linux users. There has been significant improvement in gaming for Linux of late, but many games are simply not available. There is a Windows emulator for Linux, '''Wine''', [http://www.winehq.org/] but it doesn't always perform as well as a native Windows environment. There are also some hardware driver issues for Linux users that require advanced expertise at times to overcome.</div>Cipherhttp://fileformats.archiveteam.org/wiki/LinuxLinux2013-01-23T19:56:27Z<p>Cipher: </p>
<hr />
<div>{|<br />
|[[Software]]<br />
| ><br />
|[[Operating Systems]]<br />
| ><br />
|[[Linux]]<br />
|}<br />
<br />
'''Linux''' is an operating system (OS) closely related to '''Unix''' [http://www.unix.org/]. Linux is an Open Source OS which means that anyone can access the original source code and modify it to suit their purposes. This has resulted in the many different flavors of Linux referred to as distributions (distros). Linux is noted for being supported by many free software packages that replace the proprietary software used in many operating systems. There are free and open source word processors for example.<br />
<br />
== History: ==<br />
<br />
Linux started as the '''GNU Project''' [https://www.gnu.org/] which produced many software/utility packages for a future OS they wished to develop. Linus Torvalds created the Linux kernal, the heart of the OS, in 1991. Torvalds combined his kernal with the GNU software and Linux was born.<br />
<br />
== Linux as Utility ==<br />
<br />
Many technicians supporting '''Microsoft Windows''' operating systems use a bootable '''Linux LiveCD/DVD''' [http://livecdlist.com/] to access hard drives to perform repairs and retrieve data that may be lost if their repair efforts require them to format and reinstall Windows. In addition, there are distros of Linux made to do computer forensic work with, these are used by experienced computer security people to examine and clean up computers infected with viruses or malware.<br />
<br />
<br />
== Pros and cons of running Linux ==<br />
<br />
'''PROS:'''<br />
Linux, due to its architecture doesn't require defragging. Being a very small part of the overall market share for desktop computers, there are few Linux viruses to contend with, the virus writers concentrate on the Windows platform. Linux installs are generally much smaller than Windows installs and can run on much older hardware. Many old Windows XP machines that cannot handle Windows 7 and beyond do well with a Linux install. Linux is a free OS, there is no direct cost to the user. It is a very stable OS.<br />
<br />
'''CONS:'''<br />
While many modern distros are user friendly out of the box, there is a significant learning curve with Linux. Many basic operations work differently and are a bit more complex on Linux. Additionally, there are some software packages, not many, that are unavailable for Linux users. There has been significant improvement in gaming for Linux of late, but many games are simply not available. There is a Windows emulator for Linux, '''Wine''', [http://www.winehq.org/] but it doesn't always perform as well as a native Windows environment. There are also some hardware driver issues for Linux users that require advanced expertise at times to overcome.</div>Cipherhttp://fileformats.archiveteam.org/wiki/User:CipherUser:Cipher2013-01-23T17:17:19Z<p>Cipher: </p>
<hr />
<div>About me:<br />
<br />
IT tech for Windows, Linux and Apple systems. Have run every Windows OS since 3.1, every Apple OS since 6.0, and run Mint Linux, Debian, Scientific Linux, and Puppy to name a few.<br />
<br />
Started on the Internet back in 1996 using a 14k modem making a slip connection to a state education network. Wrote JCL at the university I was employed at by day, and telneted into the mainframe at night from home to compile and error check using a Macintosh running OS 9. Moved from there into desktop/lan support where, in addition to typical desktop support, created Novell App Launcher pushes to distribute software to end users. i managed a WUS server as well.<br />
<br />
I have been active on Usenet since 1998, notably helping to form news.newusers.questions where I served as a moderator for a time. Those good people still list me as Moderator Emeritus :-) I shamelessly stole Randall Nelson's alt.cesium FAQ and maintain it and other Cesium related docs at alt.cesium to this day.<br />
<br />
I dabble in creating executable programs for the windows platform, notably encryption software.<br />
<br />
I have a few personal websites with Windows XP and Linux help/support for friends to reference.</div>Cipherhttp://fileformats.archiveteam.org/wiki/User:CipherUser:Cipher2013-01-23T17:13:18Z<p>Cipher: Created page with "About me: IT tech for Windows, Linux and Apple systems. Have run every Windows OS since 3.1, every Apple OS since 6.0, and run Mint Linux, Debian, Scientific Linux, and Puppy..."</p>
<hr />
<div>About me:<br />
<br />
IT tech for Windows, Linux and Apple systems. Have run every Windows OS since 3.1, every Apple OS since 6.0, and run Mint Linux, Debian, Scientific Linux, and Puppy to name a few.<br />
<br />
Started on the internet back in 1996 using a 14k modem making a slip connection to a state education network. Wrote JCL at the university I was employed at by day, and telneted into the mainframe at night from home to compile and error check using a Macintosh running OS 9. Moved from there into desktop/lan support where, in addition to typical desktop support, created Novell App Launcher pushes to distribute software to end users. i managed a WUS server as well.<br />
<br />
I have been active on Usenet since 1998, notably helping to form news.newusers.questions where I served as a moderator for a time. Those good people still list me as Moderator Emeritus :-) I shamelessly stole Randall Nelson's alt.cesium FAQ and maintain it and other Cesium related docs at alt.cesium to this day.<br />
<br />
I dabble in creating executable programs for the windows platform, notably encryption software.</div>Cipherhttp://fileformats.archiveteam.org/wiki/LinuxLinux2013-01-23T16:55:55Z<p>Cipher: </p>
<hr />
<div>'''Linux''' is an operating system (OS) closely related to '''Unix''' [http://www.unix.org/]. Linux is an Open Source OS which means that anyone can access the original source code and modify it to suit their purposes. This has resulted in the many different flavors of Linux referred to as distributions (distros). Linux is noted for being supported by many free software packages that replace the proprietary software used in many operating systems. There are free and open source word processors for example.<br />
<br />
== History: ==<br />
<br />
Linux started as the '''GNU Project''' [https://www.gnu.org/] which produced many software/utility packages for a future OS they wished to develop. Linus Torvalds created the Linux kernal, the heart of the OS, in 1991. Torvalds combined his kernal with the GNU software and Linux was born.<br />
<br />
== Linux as Utility ==<br />
<br />
Many technicians supporting '''Microsoft Windows''' operating systems use a bootable '''Linux LiveCD/DVD''' [http://livecdlist.com/] to access hard drives to perform repairs and retrieve data that may be lost if their repair efforts require them to format and reinstall Windows. In addition, there are distros of Linux made to do computer forensic work with, these are used by experienced computer security people to examine and clean up computers infected with viruses or malware.</div>Cipherhttp://fileformats.archiveteam.org/wiki/LinuxLinux2013-01-23T16:53:38Z<p>Cipher: </p>
<hr />
<div>'''Linux''' is an operating system (OS) closely related to '''Unix''' [http://www.unix.org/]. Linux is an Open Source OS which means that anyone can access the original source code and modify it to suit their purposes. This has resulted in the many different flavors of Linux referred to as distributions (distros). Linux is noted for being supported by many free software packages that replace the proprietary software used in many operating systems. There are free and open source word processors for example.<br />
<br />
== History: ==<br />
<br />
Linux started as the '''GNU Project''' [https://www.gnu.org/] which produced many software/utility packages for a future OS they wished to develop. Linus Torvalds created the Linux kernal, the heart of the OS, in 1991. Torvalds combined his kernal with the GNU software and Linux was born.<br />
<br />
== Linux as Utility ==<br />
<br />
Many technicians supporting '''Microsoft Windows''' operating systems use a bootable '''Linux CD/DVD''' [http://livecdlist.com/] to access hard drives to perform repairs and retrieve data that may be lost if their repair efforts require them to format and reinstall Windows. In addition, there are distros of Linux made to do computer forensic work with, these are used by experienced computer security people to examine and clean up computers infected with viruses or malware.</div>Cipherhttp://fileformats.archiveteam.org/wiki/LinuxLinux2013-01-23T16:51:10Z<p>Cipher: </p>
<hr />
<div>'''Linux''' is an operating system (OS) closely related to '''Unix'''. Linux is an Open Source OS which means that anyone can access the original source code and modify it to suit their purposes. This has resulted in the many different flavors of Linux referred to as distributions (distros). Linux is noted for being supported by many free software packages that replace the proprietary software used in many operating systems. There are free and open source word processors for example.<br />
<br />
== History: ==<br />
<br />
Linux started as the '''GNU Project''' [https://www.gnu.org/] which produced many software/utility packages for a future OS they wished to develop. Linus Torvalds created the Linux kernal, the heart of the OS, in 1991. Torvalds combined his kernal with the GNU software and Linux was born.<br />
<br />
== Linux as Utility ==<br />
<br />
Many technicians supporting '''Microsoft Windows''' operating systems use a bootable '''Linux CD/DVD''' [http://livecdlist.com/] to access hard drives to perform repairs and retrieve data that may be lost if their repair efforts require them to format and reinstall Windows. In addition, there are distros of Linux made to do computer forensic work with, these are used by experienced computer security people to examine and clean up computers infected with viruses or malware.</div>Cipherhttp://fileformats.archiveteam.org/wiki/LinuxLinux2013-01-23T16:50:01Z<p>Cipher: </p>
<hr />
<div>'''Linux''' is an operating system (OS) closely related to '''Unix'''. Linux is an Open Source OS which means that anyone can access the original source code and modify it to suit their purposes. This has resulted in the many different flavors of Linux referred to as distributions (distros). Linux is noted for being supported by many free software packages that replace the proprietary software used in many operating systems. There are free and open source word processors for example.<br />
<br />
== History: ==<br />
<br />
Linux started as the GNU Project [https://www.gnu.org/] which produced many software/utility packages for a future OS they wished to develop. Linus Torvalds created the Linux kernal, the heart of the OS, in 1991. Torvalds combined his kernal with the GNU software and Linux was born.<br />
<br />
== Linux as Utility ==<br />
<br />
Many technicians supporting Microsoft Windows operating systems use a bootable Linux CD/DVD [http://livecdlist.com/] to access hard drives to perform repairs and retrieve data that may be lost if their repair efforts require them to format and reinstall Windows. In addition, there are distros of Linux made to do computer forensic work with, these are used by experienced computer security people to examine and clean up computers infected with viruses or malware.</div>Cipherhttp://fileformats.archiveteam.org/wiki/LinuxLinux2013-01-23T16:14:13Z<p>Cipher: </p>
<hr />
<div>'''Linux''' is an operating system (OS) closely related to '''Unix'''. Linux is an Open Source OS which means that anyone can access the original source code and modify it to suit their purposes. This has resulted in the many different flavors of Linux referred to as distributions (distros). Linux is noted for being supported by many free software packages that replace the proprietary software used in many operating systems. There are free and open source word processors for example.<br />
<br />
== History: ==<br />
<br />
Linux started as the GNU Project [https://www.gnu.org/] which produced many software/utility packages for a future OS they wished to develop. Linus Torvalds created the Linux kernal, the heart of the OS, in 1991. Torvalds combined his kernal with the GNU software and Linux was born.<br />
<br />
== Linux as Utility ==<br />
<br />
Many technicians supporting Microsoft Windows operating systems use a bootable Linux CD/DVD[http://livecdlist.com/] to access hard drives to perform repairs and retrieve data that may be lost if their repair efforts require them to format and reinstall Windows.</div>Cipherhttp://fileformats.archiveteam.org/wiki/LinuxLinux2013-01-23T16:07:20Z<p>Cipher: </p>
<hr />
<div>'''Linux''' is an operating system (OS) closely related to '''Unix'''. Linux is an Open Source OS which means that anyone can access the original source code and modify it to suit their purposes. This has resulted in the many different flavors of Linux referred to as distributions (distros). Linux is noted for being supported by many free software packages that replace the proprietary software used in many operating systems. There are free and open source word processors for example.<br />
<br />
== History: ==<br />
<br />
Linux started as the GNU Project [https://www.gnu.org/] which produced many software/utility packages for a future OS they wished to develop. Linus Torvalds created the Linux kernal, the heart of the OS, in 1991. Torvalds combined his kernal with the GNU software and Linux was born.</div>Cipherhttp://fileformats.archiveteam.org/wiki/LinuxLinux2013-01-23T15:57:22Z<p>Cipher: Created page with "'''Linux''' is an operating system (OS) closely related to '''Unix'''. Linux is an Open Source OS which means that anyone can access the original source code and modify it to..."</p>
<hr />
<div>'''Linux''' is an operating system (OS) closely related to '''Unix'''. Linux is an Open Source OS which means that anyone can access the original source code and modify it to suit their purposes. This has resulted in the many different flavors of Linux referred to as distributions (distros). Linux is noted for being supported by many free software packages that replace the proprietary software used in many operating systems. There are free and open source word processors for example.<br />
<br />
== History: ==<br />
<br />
Linux started as the GNU Project which produced many software/utility packages for a future OS they wished to develop. Linus Torvalds created the Linux kernal, the heart of the OS, in 1991. Torvalds combined his kernal with the GNU software and Linux was born.</div>Cipher