Meeting Minutes

---Oct 2004 (need a volunteer to post the minutes)
January 2003 Bill Kendrick, Linux
May 2002 General
April 2002 Linux
March 2002 General
February 2002 new Imacs, firewire
January 2002 Banking Online
December 2001 Digital photography
November 2001 useful software
October 2001 more OS X
April 2001 new OS X, Quicktime, Printer tips

March 2003
Speaker: Kate Hill, Mac Maintenance
for tips from Kate click here

Jan 2003
Speaker: Bill Kendrick, New Breed Software, Davis CA
http://www.newbreedsoftware.com/tuxpaint/

'Tux Paint' ( www.newbreedsoftware.com/tuxpaint/ ) is a free drawing program geared towards children ages 2 1/2 and up. It's released as 'Open Source' software, meaning it's freely redistributable, and the "source code" behind the software is available for examination and modification. Tux Paint runs on Mac OS X, Windows and Linux. It's been translated to nearly 20 written languages. Mr. Kendrick will demonstrate the features of Tux Paint, answer any questions, and will be happy to talk about the Open Source philosophy and/or how, exactly, the software works.

May 2002

Martin kicked off the meeting noting that of the sixteen people attending only one was a first timer.

Eric brought his flat screen iMAC with system 10. The new Mac has a DVD recorder, 256 MB of ram, and a 60
gig hard drive.

Jaques attended an Internet class through Davis Community Network, he was impressed with the results.

Anne talked about Explorit! - they need volunteer help with old machines. Mark is helping them wire the
building with ethernet.

Mark brought up a system 9 extension called Print to PDF (printtopdf). Mark says it is better than Adobe Acrobat. Check it out: <http://www.macupdate.com> enter "printtopdf" in the search box to find the free downloadable file.

For our presentation Martin introduced Bill Alexander who talked about publishing a reference book with PageMaker 3 and 4.2. He migrated the PM files to FrameMaker which has a better reputation for handling large documents.

Bill started using computers when punch cards and fortran ruled. Terminals changed computing by eliminating the card output delay. He couldn't grow into the PC because he felt it had a clumsy design. His first Mac was a IIsi which he used for desktop publishing.

Switching to Linux in 1997 to solve email problems, Bill talked about the keyboard operations and customization options of Linux. Calendaring was another use put to Linux, synchronization is accomplished over the net or machine to machine for concurrent merging. Concurrent merging allows continuous updates on multiple machines for people who do group work - publishing for example. Unix text processing tools are some of his best reasons for using Linux.

The group spent some time talking about security, virus control, and firewall protection. We wound down at 9:30.

April 2002
Martin opened the meeting and showed his "Qualite de Vie Network" handout which he published on a Macintosh.

Twenty-six people attended and we started with a discussion of what's happening with each person’s Mac experience. Eric brought up an iMac problem with repair at MacOnline in Sacramento - they don't have a speedy turn around.

Vedder brought a new "in the box " digital Kodak camera - it was auctioned and the winner was Steven a first timer.

Larry brought up the Davis recycle program with free disposal (so far) once a year. Hanh talked about an invitation to a 4H convention in June and Martin organized three volunteers to represent our group.

We had a variety of hints and comments from people who are using System 10.

Pam brought a book about the iMac and gave it away. We talked about networking Macs with AppleTalk and EtherNet.

Concerning browsers, it was suggested that when having problems on the net, one might try switching browsers.

Randy talked about the Apple User Group discussion list and mentioned that some people were avoiding System10 because they need to know about Unix. His point is that one needs not know anything about Unix - the Aqua graphic interface controls the operating system without ever using a Unix command line.

Thinkfree office application runs on System 10 and opens Microsoft Word and Excel files, more on that subject will be posted on the message list. OmniWeb browser is System 10 savvy and Randy likes it over InterNet Explorer.

Meeting adjourned at 9:30, the next meeting will be the second Thursday in May.

March 2002
Twenty-four people attended the Thursday March 14th meeting of the Davis Macintosh User Group at the Davis Senior Center. Martin Barnes opened our meeting and led introductions. We had short discussions on a variety of subjects, including the internet, older computers and systems, MP3 software to download music for CD’s (theft), and Apple repair and warrantee issues.

For our presentation, Michael Beaucage talked about the software-user interface. He discussed keyboard shortcuts for saving, quitting, printing, closing windows, and many more actions. He put emphasis on the Command, Option, and Shift modifier keys and how to remember their use by association rather than memorization. He pointed out a fast and accurate way to select boxes and buttons in dialog windows, which is to click on the text instead of the box or button. Only one button can and must be selected while any number of boxes (or none) can be chosen. Another interesting item mentioned was Key Caps (lives under the Apple menu): it is a visual map of the keyboard used to locate extra characters by using the Shift and Option modifier keys. Most keys have 4 accessible characters.

We then split into smaller discussion groups to work on individual interests. Anyone know a font with fractions? The question came up after the presentation. It seems .5 or .25 won’t make it for recipes, and 3 1/2 is typewriter like.

February 2002
14 people attended the Davis Macintosh User Group at the Davis Senior Center.

There was a discussion about the availability of the new iMacs - not very yet. Eric said CompUSA has them on display and MacOnLine has them back-ordered with delivery promised any day - including the one he ordered.

Some people are having trouble with older printers and scanners when running Classic mode and/or System 10. The solution is to start the machine with System 9 so the ports and printer drivers aren't controlled by System 10. Some printers and scanners have updated their drivers, some haven't and might never. Buy new printers, all are historically cheap and a low end Brother laser printer was mentioned as a good buy.

Randy recommended OmniPage OCR software. RAM prices are rising, get upgrades now - best source is OtherWorld Computing.

Mark told how he uses a firewire cable between his iBook and G3 tower. By pressing the "t" key while starting his laptop it appears as a volume on the booted G3, he can then drag files back and forth.

Michael's note: I use this technique to upgrade and service FireWire Macs with my iBook. It is a nifty way to work between System 9 and 10 machines, and is the fastest/easiest way to connect without having to deal with file sharing settings. It is also a neat way to install System 10.1.2, Classic 9.2.1, and iPhoto on a new hard drive.

Lois talked about using a home machine to access a FileMaker Pro data base from a remote site.

Martin showed his latest issue of The Flatlander quarterly tabloid, which he produced on a Macintosh with PageMaker software.

Other topics were the Palm PIM and outliners.

January 2002

Agenda:"Banking Online"

Martin Barnes opened the January 10th meeting and discussed the subscribe/unsubscribe procedure for the message list. He offered a handout with directions to sign onto the list. Larry Dieterich <davismacworks@mac.com> is the list mom in case anyone has trouble. We have a pretty active list.

Two people had attended the MacWorld expo and reported about the new iMac and iPhoto. iPhoto is a digital photography down loader, sorter, and storage solution that only works on System X. The new iMac has a white keyboard -yea! And a G4 - double yea! 700 and 800 MHz with the articulated flat screen - wow! Hmmm, kind of like a cube with a screen, 'cept it is half round, sorta. We saw it on the cover of Time magazine. All new Macs are shipping with OS-TEN!

One discussion concerned the small font size on pages displayed by Eudora. It was mentioned that AOL senders seemed to be the problem. There was a brief exchange about html and e-mail - seems Eudora doesn't handle html well. Several negative comments aired about html and e-mail. We need more information on the html subject, one person liked e-mail formatting, and getting attachments is pretty convenient as long as they aren't really huge.

Larry told of his new iPod and how much he really likes it. Besides being fully integrated to iTunes for his portable music pleasure, it can be used to a boot a Mac for service, store documents for back up, or move a digital video to another machine quickly. The principle feature is the high speed FireWire connection - unique!

Our main subject was finances. Martin told of his three accounts with Wells Fargo and how he can switch money between his accounts with no charge. Paying bills electronically costs about $6.95 a month. The best recommendation was to go to a site you wish to make a payment - PG&E, PacBell, or whatever and use a cash card for payment. Cash and credit cards are safe to use on the internet, no one told any horror stories.

Martin brought up a participants suggestion that we have classes for beginners taught by volunteers. Who knows where or when? How many people would like this kind of activity and how do we instruct? By demo with a large screen monitor or projector? Will people bring machines? Work in pairs? Is it worth $25.00?

December 2001

Agenda:"Digital Still Photography"

Martin Barnes started things off by introducing visitors - we had quite few! There were 40 people in attendance, our largest group to date. We even had a couple of WinTel users hanging around.

Randy Singer gave us some updates on the rumor scene; a new i-Mac with a LCD screen and some changes to the i-Book (larger screen?) He also brought a number of products which were handed out.

Michael Beaucage gave a presentation on still digital photography. He explained the mega-pixel situation, prices, camera features, storage media, and software. He had sample "before and after" pictures demonstrating red-eye removal and other touchup techniques including some sign removal and foliage creation to cover a house. Now really Michael, is that ethical? One important subject was the image size and resolution for sending JPEG files, 72 dpi for screen viewing, and 300 dpi for printing.

Michael, John Madrosen, and Martin brought cameras to the meeting and commented on some of their likes and dislikes.

The group took a break and there were some lively discussions. In the back of the room, SportyDoc showed a steadycam device (GlideCam) to use for hand-held video camera work.

The MacNexus paper expert had a variety of stock and information about achieving near photographic quality.

We also saw a short video production of the Davis Farm to School Connection, which will be used for outreach and fund raising.

November 2001

This is the second meeting using the new agenda worked out by the steering committee last summer.

The schedule is:

1. Introduce new attendees (no more introducing everyone and the machine they use.)
2. Brief discussion of current and new items of interest, questions, and concerns.
3. A presentation on a specific subject: this meeting Randy Singer will review his published paper on crashes.
4. Split into small groups for special interests. We opened the meeting by asking if any new members were present. Michael Lewis, a well known professor, author, brew master, and pioneer in the brew pub movement, has a new Titanium PowerBook and was here to observe what Mac people talk about. About twenty people were in attendance.

Larry Dieterich (MacParamedic) and Michael Beaucage (Macintosh Man) were present: they service, repair and train on Macs. Also present - our valuable reference resource Randy Singer.

Larry will send meeting information to the California Aggie and Woodland Democrat in addition to the Davis Enterprise. Thank you.

Flyers will be posted at UCD by Mark, Michael will handle the Senior Center, Art Center, Vets Center, and Library.

Randy and Larry talked about discharging electricity from a CRT. Not a good thing to do. Your gravestone might read: "Hey all we have to do is touch this screwdriver to the..."

Multiple copies of e-mail in Eudora was a problem for one person: it was suggested to look under preferences for a setting to correct the problem.

Randy brought up a new e-mail solution called realmail (lower case one word), he will get more information later.

Graphic Converter was recommended to translate graphic formats. Graphic Converter can be used to edit graphics and also to produce a slide show. It costs $79.95 on the Casady & Greene site. The company also produces a utility package for $129.00 which includes DiskWarrior utility.

or Graphic Converter, $35 shareware from Lemke

Larry suggested a Mac specific Google site.

CarbonLib1.4 from Apple was briefly discussed. It allows people with System 8.6 thru 9.2 to run system 10 software. Randy will post a clickable link for a download.

The presentation at this meeting concerned a paper written by Randy Singer on the topic of crashes.

According to Randy Macs really don't crash without a reason, "Multiple copies of CarbonLib for example will create an unstable system," He suggested upgrading System 9.xx to the latest 9.2.1, mostly because of bug fixes. No mention of what the bugs were. He reminded people of free updates available from Apple to fix problems.

He suggests the use DiskWarrior utility regularly, $69.95 on the Alsoft site.

Donna reported Norton utilities restored her help file.

There was amusement at Michael's "wipe and reinstall happy" thing. Randy pointed out that it is impractical from a time perspective - would take forever. It is also problematic if one isn't backed up or doesn't own the software they are running!

Other factors concerning crashes Randy mentioned were:
- Machine RAM and Virtual Memory setting.
- Memory management problems with System 9 and older systems.
- Application RAM allocation issues.
- Extension conflicts.
- Fonts being disorganized. Try FontDoctor

Randy concluded with various hints and tips responding to people's interests.

October 2001
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Twenty-two people met at the Davis Senior Center Thursday October 11. Everyone in attendance had attended the Davis MUG before.

Our moderator Martin Barnes began a discussion and soon we were all sharing a variety of Mac information. Some of the less experienced felt a little lost but were paying attention. Random questions and solutions were the topics and some people expressed interest in System 10.

Martin introduced Randy Singer who pointed out his observations of System 10.1, the latest upgrade. Randy told us of speed and stability improvements. Applications were discussed - browsers, iMovie, iTunes and AppleWorks - all run on System 10.

Martin requested some input on meeting subjects and a volunteer is needed to make a presentation at the next meeting. The Internet and Quicken were mentioned as potential subjects.

A number of people then gathered in small discussion groups and we departed.

April 12, 2001
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OS X - Should you upgrade?

Yes - If you like to experiment with the lastest and greatest. Best if you install it on a spare drive just in case OS X does something strange.

No - If you're not that comfortable with tinkering with new software.

For more information click here.

Quicktime VR

Our very own Larry went to Apple's headquarter for a lesson on Quicktime VR. He reported that with this technology you can use create a 360 degree panoramic like picture. For more info click here.

Firmware upgrade warning

Randy warns user of upgrading to the latest firmware if your system has nonApple RAM. A software out there call DimCheck?? checks to see if your RAM is ok.

Quick Tips

Printer Tip #1
If your printer doesn't print out any black or color and you've tried to run the software clean utility to no avail, as a last resort, try this tip.
Squirt a small amount of rubbing alcohol across the 8.5" side of a clean sheet of paper. Run the confirmation check in your utility. (That's the page that prints out a sample of lines that confirms your ink is ok.)
If the ink nozzle still isn't clear run it the clean again.

Printer Tip #2
Refilling ink cartridges saves money over the cost of getting new ink cartridges.

Other News

Randy wrote an article on how to optimize your Mac OS. To obtain a copy e-mail him directly.
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