SLO Bytes HardCopy

A publication of the San Luis Obispo PC Users’ Group

Vol. 23 No. 6                                  June 2007

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Alan's May 6th, 2007 General Windows SIG by Alan Raul

Norton Ghost 12 is the latest version from Symantec. A very unique feature is the ability to create a virtual disk which converts recovery points to a VMWare Virtual Disk (.vmdk) or a Microsoft Virtual PC 2007 Virtual Disk (.vhd).
http://www.symantec.com/home_homeoffice/products/features.jsp?pcid=br&pvid=ghost12

Kingmax Super Stick - the smallest USB flash drive. I almost lost this drive in my pocket! Take a look at some of the pictures on the Amazon web site.
www.amazon.com/Kingmax-Super-Stick-Worlds-Tiniest/dp/B000JWTQLI

Porta - A no-nonsense, hassle-free photo album generator.
http://www.stegmann.dk/mikkel/porta/

Add-Ons for Internet Explorer
http://www.windowsmarketplace.com/category.aspx?bcatid=834&tabid=1

Inline Search for Internet Explorer - is an add-on for Internet Explorer that mimics Firefox's search behavior.
http://www.windowsmarketplace.com/details.aspx?view=info&itemid=3012162

ESET NOD32 Antivirus
http://www.eset.com/

Prizes, prizes and more prizes… In addition to our main speaker give-a-ways which numbered over 25, our monthly raffle featured such nice items as the following:

Windows Vista Secrets By authors Brian Livingston and Paul Thurrott
www.amazon.com/Windows-Vista-Secrets-Brian-Livingston/dp/0764577042

PowerSquid Outlet Multiplier
http://www.powersquid.net/

VANTEC CB-ISATAU2 SATA/IDE to USB 2.0 Adapter
http://www.vantecusa.com/p_cb-isatau2.html

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May 6th, 2007 Main Meeting Review by Kaye Raul

Robert Kirbo of Premiere Printer Repair http://www.osc-ppr.biz/ was our featured speaker at the May 6 meeting.  Robert shared his many years of experience with printers and gave some pointers as to what printers are winners and which ones to avoid.

Though laser printers are initially more expensive, over time, they are much less costly than inkjet printers due to build quality and the price of toner as compared to ink cartridges. HP Printers are made by Canon. Laser printers to avoid are all Okidata. Color lasers to avoid are HP 4600/4650, Konica/Minolta Magicolor 3300 and any HP Carousel Color Printer.  He also added that parts for Xerox printers are very hard to find. Some good printers are HP Photosmart, HP OfficeJet 5610, Canon Bubblejet, Canon Pixma Photo Printers, wide format Canons and Epson Stylus.

Robert closed his presentation with some insight to the newest technology. In  2006, Zink purchased the technology and assets from Polaroid. Zink, short for “zero ink”, http://www.zink.com/ has invented a new way to print images without the need for ink cartridges.  The paper used by these new printers has the dye embedded in it. We should see some of these printers by year end.

Thank you, Robert, for an informative and entertaining presentation.


Kaye Raul's Featured Speaker Programming Schedule by Kaye Raul

Cell Phones will be the main topic at the June 3rd meeting of the SLO Bytes PC Users Group presented by Brock Matheson of Central Coast Wireless.  Cell phone technology is rapidly evolving and your  phone is no longer just for talking.  In many ways you have a computer that fits in your pocket.

The new phones can combine surfing the Internet, e-mail, global positioning systems, a fairly good camera, your favorite tunes and you can even receive television stations.  Brock will review what services are available along with covering cell phone contracts.

Prior to the main presentation, Alan Raul will moderate his Q & A session from 12:45 PM to 2:00 PM

Additionally, a second SIG for beginners will run concurrently in dining room, offering advice and answering questions on Windows operating systems.  This is a small group environment specially suited for the novice user.

At our July 1st meeting, we will hold our annual BBQ. At our June 3rd SLO Bytes meeting, Bob Mires will have a sign-up sheet at his table for members and their guest (if any) who will be attending the BBQ. Please be sure to make your reservations.

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May 21st Digital Photography SIG Review by Nancy Vrooman

Don had  kindly loaded several programs with the goal of comparing quality and size of "slideshow movies".  The same six photos were used in each experiment.  MuVee did not allow for individual tweaking. Chose a style and it does the rest.  Picassa also did not allow much user control and is very easy to learn.  Lightroom creates a .pdf and the appearance of the photos incorporated was very good.  Pinnacle and Premier Elements offered much more control and correspondingly, a steeper learning curve.  The output was very good and an added benefit are the many Save choices, ie. for a high definitions TV.   Lastly we saw Vista's Movie Maker.  Its interface is reminiscent of Pinnacle and it is very fast, producing very good results.  Comparisons based on size would require in depth work.

Bob Grover showed the results of recording directly from cable TV to his hard drive, and creating a DVD of that recording.  Being a movie buff, he chose "Never On Sunday". The signal was sent to a Leadtek WinFast TV USB II tuner box with an ordinary coaxial TV cable (no TV set involved), and from the box via a USB cable to the computer.  (Talk to Bob directly for system requirements.)  Pinnacle Studio 10.6 was used to edit and burn the DVD.  Since the file was nearly 5 Gigabytes, resolution had to be lowered to fit on a regular 4.7 Gb DVD. Otherwise choose a 2-layer 8.5 Gb DVD +R DL.  The DVD label was a still frame captured from the movie.  Lightscribe was used to imprint it upon the DVD, very professional!  Although the DVD is burned to autorun, on Don's system neither WinMedia Player nor Nero would play the movie. However it opened perfectly in CyberLink Power DVD with great music. It will also run on your family room DVD player connected to your TV. This project is only for those with great patience. The results are worth it!

Welcome to John Waller, a new member to the SIG. He is experienced in PhotoShop

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President's Message
 
At our 3 June, 2007 meeting:
At 12:45 PM, Alan will be moderating the Question and Answer session
At 12:45 PM, Bill Avery, Ben Hansen, Eugene Rheingans and Fred Cook will run the Windows SIG for Beginners in the dining room
At 2:30 PM, Our speaker, Brock Matheson will give his presentation

Go to http://www.slobytes.org/newsletter/push/0607/index.html to see the 12 great PUSH Articles for June 2007.  They came to me from Judy Taylour of APCUG, Editorial PUSH Committee Chair. Our Webmaster, Ralph Sutter uploaded these articles to our website. The PUSH Archive articles can be found at  http://www.slobytes.org/newsletter/push/index.html

In this same group, there are an additional three articles from APCUG that are also worthwhile to read.

Take advantage of the four learning CDs,  "Learn Windows XP, Excel, Word & Power Point" available for our members to check out (at the Treasurer's table).

We also have Adobe PhotoShop 7, learning CD's to check out (at the Treasurer's table). This 5 CD set covers, in depth, the various program features in lesson format.

Continue to bring any used ink-jet printer or toner cartridges to our meeting.  We collect them (at the Treasurer's table) and turn them over to "Make A-Wish Foundation" who generates much needed funds for their organization by refurbishing and selling them.
 
--Ray Miklas

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Treasurer's Report for May 2007

 
New members: Ross Foster, Shirley Hanrion       
Renewing members: Ed Faeth, John Romanelli, Ben Hansen, Leslie Meyer

Robert Mires, Treasurer

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Club Information and Meeting Times
 
SLO Bytes, a PC Users Group dedicated to educate its members in the use of personal computers, digital devices and software, meets on the first Sunday of each month at the Independent Order of Odd Fellows (IOOF) Hall at 520 Dana Street, San Luis Obispo. All meetings are open to the public at no cost. Special interest groups meet from 12:45 PM to 2:00 PM and guest speaker presentations begin at 2:30 PM. Contact Kaye Raul (kmraul@sbcglobal.net) or visit www.slobytes.org for additional information about SLO Bytes and the scheduled presentation.

HardCopy is a monthly publication of SLO Bytes PC Users' Group located in San Luis Obispo, California. Information in this Newsletter is derived from both our own membership and other PC User Group Newsletters. The purpose of this publication is to inform our members of meetings and provide information related to the use of PCs and various Operating Systems.
 
Membership Dues are $25 per year. Full membership entitles you to our monthly newsletter via e-mail, technical assistance, raffle gift drawing at the end of the meetings, a voice in the affairs of the club, and comradeships.
 
Article Submission Deadline for submission of articles is the 20th of each month. Articles should be E-mailed to the editor (rmiklas@pacbell.net).
  
Outside Special Interest Groups (SIGs)
 
HTML/Internet SIG normally meets at 6:30 PM on the Monday (following our Sunday's General Meeting) at Ralph Sutter's home in Arroyo Grande. Call Ralph at 489-8678 for directions.

Linux SIG normally meets at 6:30 PM on Thursday (following our Sunday's General Meeting) at KCBXnet [a.k.a. SLONET] Training Center, 4100 Vachell Lane, SLO.

Photography SIG normally meets at 7 PM on a third Monday of each month at Don Jones's home in Pismo Beach. Call Don at 773-5526 for directions.

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SLO Bytes Officers/Volunteers
Ray Miklas (President, HardCopy Editor) rmiklas@pacbell.net
Kaye Raul (V.P. Programs Chair/Publicity) kmraul@sbcglobal.net
Robert Mires (Treasurer/Membership/Publishing) rmires@sbcglobal.net
Ralph Sutter (Secretary/Webmaster/HTML-Internet SIG) rsutter@cuesta.edu
Alan Raul (General SIG/Linux SIG)
Bill Avery (Beginners SIG)
Ben Hansen (Beginners SIG)
Eugene Rheingans (Beginners SIG)
Fred Cook (Beginners SIG)
Don Jones (Photography SIG)
Ginny Monteen (Contributing Columnist/Main Meeting Review)
Nancy Vrooman (Refreshments)
Peter Stonehewer (Refreshments)
Ken Stilts (Set-up/Clean-up)
John Enos (Set-up/Clean-up)
Bill Palmerston (Set-up/Clean-up)

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Disclaimer: Neither SLO Bytes PC Users' Group, its officers, editors, or contributors to this newsletter assume liability for damages arising out of this publication of any article, including but not limited to the listing of programming code, batch files and other helpful hints. Articles from this newsletter may be reprinted by other user groups if credit is given to both the author and newsletter from which it was taken. Reproduction of articles with a specific Copyright notice is prohibited without prior permission from the original author.

SLO Bytes Website http://www.slobytes.org