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Snippets from Previous Meetings
Sheryl Roberts has 'heaps of nice second-hand Macs' for sale. For a variety of models (including iMacs) and prices contact: Sheryl Phone 03 689 4824
Robin Linder has a Mac 266 G3 desktop computer for sale (inbuilt Zip drive, no monitor) for sale: $400. Contact:
Barry Robinson has a Mac 1400 laptop computer for sale. Contact:
'COMPLETE GUIDE TO MacOS X'
Barry recommended this small publication ($14:95, available Whitcoulls or other booksellers, part of the NEXT Handbooks series) for users who want to find out more about MacOS X. The Beginner's Section is particularly helpful for users who are new to OS X, as it clearly explains a variety of topics. The Intermediate and Advanced Sections move on to aspects such as Applescripting and writing your own software. An attached CD contains useful MacOS X software. Well worth a look!
HANDY HINT
If any CDs or floppy disks are stuck in a the computer, eject them by holding down the mouse button while restarting.
SESSIONS
MacBASICS: SCREEN CAPTURE
Kim and Robin explained about Screen Capture, which is making a copy of anything (icon, graphic, photo, text...) which appears on the screen. This copy can then be pasted into documents, e-mail messages, etc. Either Keyboard Shortcuts or Applications can be used to capture from the screen:
Keyboard Shortcuts:
These are part of the operating system of all Macs:
- To take a picture of the whole screen, press Command-Shift-3.
- To take a picture of part of the screen, press Command-Shift-4 and drag to select the area you want.
Screen Capture Applications
Kim told us how to use Grab, an application which comes with MacOS X. It is found in the Hard Drive/Applications/Utilities folder, and can be used for taking pictures of either part or the whole of the screen. A further option is to take a timed shot, which operated 10 seconds after starting, so changes can be made before taking the picture. Grab Preferences give the choice of hiding the cursor during screen shots, or changing it to other kinds of pointer, including a hand.
Robin demonstrated Flash-It, a shareware application for MacOS 9. This has more options than Grab, including being able to assign function keys to different operations such as saving to desktop, scrapbook file or clipboard. Flash-It can be downloaded from Mactropolis, or obtained from Sheryl.
Another Hint: Robin also reminded us that when resizing graphics, keep them in proportion by holding down the shift key while dragging a corner 'handle' diagonally.
FIRST AID FOR DISKS
Hard disks, floppies and CDs can sometimes have their formatting and/or contnts damaged, and may need to be verified and repaired. Sheryl and Kim explained how to use Disk First Aid (up to MacOS 9) and Disk Utility (MacOS X) to check and rectify (where possible).
DISK FIRST AID
Some points Sheryl made:
- In MacOS 7 and 8 this was found in the Utilities folder, and in MacOS 9 in the Applications folder.
- The MacOS 8.5 version could automatically check the hard disk for errors when the system crashed.
- If installing Disk First Aid, it is important to have the appropriate version to match the computerŐs Operating System (OS), as versions vary.
- If the Hard Drive has problems, it's usually best to restart from CD (while holding down the C key) so that the computer isn't using its own system while it's trying to be verified and repaired.
- Disk First Aid is for basic problems, and more powerful applications such as Norton Disk Doctor, may be required for major difficulties.
DISK UTILITY
Kim explained that this is the corresponding MacOS X application, and is found in the Applications folder. He demonstrated its use with both hard disks and rewritable CDs. Selecting the First Aid tab gives the following (and other) options:
WRITING CDs
Writing CDs is a new topic for most of us; several members contributed to a session which introduced some aspects about how to "burn" (record information on) CDs, using both the Disk Burner in MacOS X and the more powerful Toast application.
Aspects mentioned included handling rewriteable CDs, using the Disk Copy utility, cross-platform options and recording speeds.
We hope to deal further with this topic at future meetings, and also to provide you with more detailed notes at a later date.
REMINDER
Next AMUG Evening meeting will be on Friday 29 August
Next AMUG Daytime Meeting No arrangement as yet
[Committee Meeting on Mactropolis: Tuesday 19 August at 9:00pm
Regards to all.....
Tony Climo
Secretary, Aoraki MacIntosh Users Group