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February 1998 Newsbyte | |
EDITOR'S
CORNER
What a way to start 1998!! I bought a Zip drive in November, and
before Christmas it ceased functioning. I called tech support,
only to be told that it would be 19 minutes until someone could
handle my call. I then E-Mailed them expecting a reply with
instructions to pack up the drive and return it. At least that
was what I wanted to do. No joy, the message came back to call
the toll free number, which set me off on the wrong foot. Reluctantly
I called the number and again after going through their labyrinth of
push 1 for one thing 2 for something else, 1 for DOS/Win95, and on
and on... again had to hold for 15 minutes this time, so I did.
In about 12 minutes the Technician came on the line and we went
through the whole description of all my computers' peripheral
hardware, printers, etc etc.... After about 10 minutes the Tech
was ready to give me a RMN number, and then he suggested that I
hook up the drive to the computer and "Let's try something."
Well, guess what? The blasted thing worked after we took out
all of the programs that were running!!! All of Murphy's laws
came into effect to make me look bad. I had already tried it on
both computers and it didn't work so why was it working now??
I'll probably never know.. Only thing, I hope it stays running
as it is very handy to have. The only way I know to move large
files from one computer to another easily. This is probably the
easiest that I've run into. It is completely painless. Just
highlight any directory or file that you want to move or back
up and then highlight the removable drive and paste it!!! try
it you'll like it!!!
The club is deeply indebted to Brian Powell for his numerous
hours of pouring over the Constitution, and setting up the NEW WEB
PAGE on AOL!!! This young man should stand out as a model for all
of us. He came to my house this week and effortlessly set up the
new web page under AOL and tried out everything before announcing
that it SHOULD work. Well, work it did, the only problem, he
neglected to tell me how to check into my own web site!!! Adults
can really be dumb huh Brian? Thanks again for your help!!! The
club needs about 30 more people like you!!!!!
I got my first virus!!! Checked into the "Brothers Keeper"
website, and downloaded the zipped files to update my version of the
genealogy program. After signing off, I expanded the file, and the
graph on the installation screen got as far as 29% and locked up the
computer there.
Didn't think much of it, until later when I noticed that I had
started with 1.31GB on my hard drive. Did some other work on the
computer and noticed that the hard drive now had 1.21GB!! At this
point I really became concerned. Started Searching for McAfee Virus
program and couldn't find it. Called Joe Luster and he rushed right
down with his copy. Ran it and no viruses were found but by this time
I was down to 800MB. I installed Norton and its virus program, and
again no virus was found. By then the drive only had 500 megs on it.
What was happening? I left the computer set for a while and ate dinner,
went back and deleted the subdirectory that held my Brothers Keepe files.
There was a long silence while Deltree did its thing, and then for the
shock of my life, the drive now had 1210MB (1.21GB) on it, allowing
for the space Norton and McAfee took up, it accounted for all the
lost space!!! Boy was I relieved, and especially this morning
when everything ran perfectly, and no loss of space...... Believe
me, the first thing I'll do now is BACKUP- BACKUP- AND MORE
BACKUPS......... EDITOR
| President | Willis Troyer | 669-3925 |
| Vice Presidents | Brian Powell | 828-8365 |
| Tom Zimmerman | 264-5521 | |
| Secretary-Treasurer | Pat Johnston | 264-8726 |
| Librarians | Joe Luster | 682-7815 |
| Phillip Crosby | 264-1444 | |
| Editor | Harry Geiser | 682-7486 |
Harry has a 15" SVGA monitor for sale. Used for one year. Asking $175. (I got a new 17" .26mm.... wow what a difference!!!!) Call (330) 682-7486.
The improvement in color inkjet printers over the past two
years has been dramatic. Once capable of only grainy, pale images,
inkjets can now render color pictures that rival prints from a 35mm
camera. Which one's best? We tested the current flagship models from
the Big Four of inkjet printer makers: Canon, Epson, Hewlett-Packard,
and Lexmark. We used Adobe's Photo- Deluxe to print the same digital
pictures on each printer in its best- quality mode using both plain
paper and low-gloss photo paper.
Canon's BJC-7000 excelled on both types of paper, thanks in
large part to its ink optimizer that lays down a primer before
applying its color inks. Canon's photo-ink cartridge, which holds
six colors, helped it produce the most realistic flesh tones and
arguably the most accurate colors of the four. The output of Epson's
Stylus Color 800, which prints at a high 1,440 by 720 dots per inch,
is just as good on coated stock, though clearly not as vivid on plain
paper. And the Epson is almost twice as fast as the Canon.
HP's DeskJet 722C holds its own with even the Canon on plain paper;
surprisingly, it's less impressive on coated stock. Its photos are
still very good, but they tend to be slightly darker, with rosier
flesh tones. Lexmark's 7000 is the smallest and fastest of the four,
but its images appear grainy, despite its high resolution.
Apple's grand plans for spreading the Macintosh gospel to a wider
congregation appear to have been left at the altar and Apple is the
one that didn't show. Apple recently decided to buy the assets and
direct-sales operations of the largest maker of Macintosh compatibles,
Power Computing, rather than renew that company's Mac technology
license. And it made renewing such licenses difficult enough that
Motorola, the number-two clone maker, has decided simply to call
it quits. That leaves only a few small players in the Mac cloning
business, including Umax and DayStar Digital.
Apple believes that clone makers have been stealing sales
from Apple rather than expanding the Mac pie. The company says it
will now focus on strong areas such as education and publishing.
Apple recently decided to keep its Newton division, which makes
the MessagePad and eMate portables. --C.O.
One of the key advantages of digital photos is that you can manipulate
them to your heart's content. But most photo-editing programs are aimed
mainly at fixing problems: improving contrast, removing the red-eye effect,
and so on. New stitching programs let you go a step further, joining
your pictures to create a panoramic view or even a 360-degree image.
Live Picture's PhotoVista ($99) and PictureWorks' Spin
Panorama ($79) are among the first of this emerging breed. You start
by taking a series of pictures with either a digital or 35mm camera,
and then transferring them to your PC (using a scanner for 35mm prints).
Each program takes those images and stitches them together seamlessly.
With Spin Panorama, you position pairs of control points to match areas
on adjacent images; PhotoVista is more automatic, aligning and blending
images on its own.
Both work on Windows PCs and Macs, and the Mac
version of Spin Panorama can even create a 360-degree Quicktime VR
movie. You can stitch just for fun to get that shot of the Grand
Canyon no camera could hold but you can also fashion engaging Web
sites and presentations, for example, or even real estate
walk-throughs.
Building bridges is easy with Spin Panorama, from PictureWorks. You
load two or more digital photos, and the software stitches them using
control points to align and merge the pictures. Then you crop the image
and save it as a panorama...........
Plain-old copper phone wiring may be down, but it's not out
of the high-speed Internet race. In fact, thanks to some new tricks,
this bandwidth dog may soon be right in the middle of the hunt for
faster Web access.
Diamond Multimedia and Multi-Tech Systems have each recently
demonstrated Internet connections running at 92,000 bits per second
(92Kbps)or faster by using a pair of 56Kbps modems working in tandem
over ordinary copper phone lines. With modem prices still falling and
the number of homes and offices with two or more phone lines rising,
such a technique may be practical in many circumstances. And you could
still use one line for voice calls. But for such a system to work, the
server computers at your Internet service provider would have to be
operating in the same dual-line fashion, which does not seem imminent.
More promising are the various Digital Subscriber Line, or DSL,
technologies. DSL uses special modems to send digital signals, rather
than analog waveforms, over existing twisted-pair copper phone lines.
One popular variant of this technology, called asymmetrical DSL, or
ADSL, is capable of download speeds as fast as 9 million bits per
second (9Mbps), or about 160 times faster than a 56Kbps modem. That
could make ADSL modems comparable with the cable modems now being
offered by some cable-TV companies, though some ADSL services may
offer slower speeds. Upload speeds for ADSL are much slower than
download speeds (hence the asymmetric label), but the bottleneck
in Internet access is usually in getting Web pages from the Internet
to your PC.
So far, DSL has been used in only a few commercial services.
But that may begin to change by the middle of 1998, according to
Paradyne, a major supplier of DSL equipment. Paradyne recently
unveiled products designed to enable Internet service providers to
offer ADSL service at download speeds as fast as 7Mbps. Hayes and
Alcatel, meanwhile, say they are developing an ADSL modem that will
cost about $250. -- C.O.
Sprynet (www.sprynet.com) made its mark as one of the first national ISPs, and with Internet in a Box, it was one of the first ISPs to market Web access to the masses. Now the market is expanding at an almost untrackable rate. Sprynet executives say their business will have to change to better serve the market. This includes better connection options (including 56-Kbps access), better e-mail services (including their recently launched wireless e-mail access) and aggregated content. Sprynet is a subsidiary of CompuServe, and officials at the ISP look upon the coming merger of CompuServe with America Online as a good thing. They believe that the combination of Sprynet's technical expertise and AOL's marketing savvy will help Sprynet further promote its service and ultimately expand its user base. The service currently has approximately 300,000 subscribers. As for competition from telcos, local utilities and cable services, Sprynet says that this, too, will help it expand its own business. Most of these companies have little or no experience in serving as ISPs, so they'll need partners. Sprynet says it's ready to step in.
I am not including a copy of the constitution in this edition
of the newsletter. If you want a copy, call me at 330-682-7486 and a
copy will be sent you. The constitution is posted on our web page
thanks to Brian Powell...... The cost of reproduction and mailing
makes this necessary. the editor. (NOTE: THIS APPLIES TO THE HARD
COPY, NOT E-MAIL).
CLICK HERE to go to the TCC Proposed
Constitution.