Snippets from Previous Meetings
FILM SCANNER
Tony gave a demonstration of a Nikon Film Scanner belonging to AMUG member Trudy Milligan of Geraldine. This very useful piece of hardware scans either strip negatives or transparencies (slides) to produce a highly-detailed digital image. Quality of image is much better than that obtained by scanning a printed photograph on a flatbed scanner, and the device is very simple to use. The scanned images then have many uses: they can be printed, enlarged, stored on disk/CD, assembled for an on-screen slide presentation, etc. Members who would like to have their films or slides scanned are welcome to contact Tony.
IMATION DISK DRIVE
Sheryl showed us a new type of Imation disk drive, which handles both standard 3.5" floppy disks and 240MB Imation Superdisks, making it a versatile external storage device for USB-ported iMacs and iBooks.
KAI'S POWER SHOW
Tony demonstrated this application which is used to produce visually interesting Slide Shows from folders of graphics. The 'power' of this program is the ease with which a presentation can be collated (almost automatically, if desired) and edited. It features: Text Functions which enable titles and captions to be added with a range of types of movement, which include 'parading' across the screen and appearing from a blur, Sound Functions to add either in-built sounds or custom-recorded sound tracks, Transitions in a number of fancy styles which add interest to the progress of the presentation.
SESSIONS
MAC BASICS
Wilfrid explained a range of MacBasic items, including: Sleep Mode: Laptops can save power by using the Sleep Mode feature, accessed through the Control Strip or Control Panels (earlier systems). This can also dim the computer's screen to save it from damage by through having an image 'burned' onto it by being left on too long. Screen Resolution: The appearance of the screen can be changed to a high resolution (items appear smaller, but more can be included) or a low resolution (items are larger, and fewer included). Screen Colors: Some applications require you to change the number of colors (and some even change them for you - but don't necessarily change them back when quitting!) Making and Using Aliases: Clicking once on an application's (or file's) icon and then pressing Command-M makes an Alias of the icon, which you can place on your desktop to give you ready access to the application or file.
Q &A SESSION
A short session centred around the use of the Scrapbook to save either text or images. When working in a word processor, images should be saved as separate graphic objects, rather than as part of the text, so that they can be saved separately for the text.
MISCELLANEOUS
MICROSOFT OFFICE 2001
Sheryl explained a few of the newer features in the Microsoft Office 2001 suite of applications, and compared it to earlier versions.
INTERNET HELP DESK
A hilarious short movie was shown to us by Sheryl, which illustrated the frustrations which are likely to arise on both sides of a 'help desk' situation!
SOFTWARE UPDATES
For those with MacOS 9, the Software Update control panel enables either manual or automatic updating of application and system software. Sheryl explained how to use this feature, which will dial the appropriate websites to keep software versions current.
SOFTWARE FOR SALE
Sheryl displayed various items of software for sale, and particularly mentioned the Dorling Kindersley range (mainly educational programs for children), of which many of the cheaper versions will shortly be discontinued.
SYMANTEC UPDATE
David Balfour supplied these useful phone numbers from for those who use Symantec products (Norton Utilities, Norton AntiVirus, etc): Call Symantec on 0800 445 304 (phones to Australia) for live update payments by credit card
NZ Technical Support: 0800 442 795
Customer Service (product info): 0800 174 089
Product Upgrades: 09 414 0100
REMINDER
Next meeting is on Friday 28 September
- ALL WELCOME - BRING A FRIEND
[Committee Meeting on Mactropolis:Tuesday 18 September at 9:00pm.]
Happy MacComputing..... Regards to all....
Tony Climo
Secretary, Aoraki MacIntosh Users Group