Aoraki Macintosh User Group Home Page

Snippets from Previous Meetings

APPLE ROAD SHOW

Barry brought to members' attention next week's Apple Roadshow which will be held in both Dunedin and Christchurch. If attending it is advisable to register on the Apple NZ website: Apple NZ

Dunedin
Tuesday, August 31, 2004
Dunedin Town Hall

Christchurch
Thursday, September 2,2004
Chch. Convention Centre - Hall A, B & C



FIREFOX

Wilfrid described an alternative web browser which is faster than Safari. Firebox is available from www.mozilla.org as an 8.6MB download.
GRAEME MOFFAT'S LETTERS

Barry tabled several letters from Graeme Moffat (Australian Regional Liaison at Welling Mac User Group) of general interest to Mac Users.

QUESTIONS, (some) ANSWERS and HINTS

This discussion session covered a number of problems, hints and suggestions. Some of the points raised included:

Keyboard Shutdown: On laptops or Mac keyboards without a startup/shutdown button, the Shutdown menu can be activated by holding down Control + Eject. The buttons can be activated by typing their initial letter, or hitting 'Return' to Shut down:

Eject Disk:
On most machines a CD can be ejected by holding down the mouse button during startup.

Check the HD Using Disk Utility:
Some system problems on the HD can be diagnosed and repaired by using the Disk Utility on the System Disk supplied with the computer. During startup with the disk, hold down the 'C' key so that the computer boots from the disk, not from its own software (otherwise it's difficult to repair problems while the computer is using its own software). From the Installer Menu, select Disk Utility. Select the HD to diagnose and repair problems. Also select 'Verify Disk Permissions', as these may also be causing problems.

ADSL Internet Hint:
A recent speaker advised that for a high-speed ADSL internet connection, a modem router is needed, but as Wilfrid pointed out, these have only one output port. He has purchased a hub which allows a number of simultaneous connections, as it acts like a multibox for networking.

Switching Finder Views:
Switching rapidly between Icon/List/Column views in Finder windows by using the keyboard shortcuts: Command 1/2/3 (respectively) toggles between the three views.

SESSIONS

MacBASICS ~ APPLEWORKS WORD PROCESSING

Tony demonstrated some basic formatting features for use when making Word Processing documents in AppleWorks, and he showed their associated button bar and menu shortcuts. Aspects included the use of: Discussion of fonts led on to a brief look at the Font Book application, and Tony showed how to enable/disable fonts, and how to resolve the problem of duplicate fonts.
MULTIPLE USERS Barry explained how a Mac computer can be shared with others so that each user's settings (for desktop pictures, dock, startup items, application preferences, etc) are preserved and available to that user.

Using multiple accounts has been available since MacOS 9, but MacOS 10.3 (Panther) brought in faster user switching which allows switching to a new account while another is still running.

Multiple accounts are set up in the System Preferences, under the System/Accounts menu, which displays this window:

Clicking on the '+' in the lower left-hand corner produces a new user account, for which a password, picture and limitations can be selected.

Unless passwords are known, one user does not have access to anotherŐs files and applications. For files that are to be accessed by more than one user, a Shared folder is provided (on the computer's HD/Users/Shared), and items (or their aliases) placed there are available to all users of the computer.
SOFTWARE UPDATES

Sheryl outlined the use of MacOS X's facility for automatically updating system and application software by using System Updates (in 10.3) or System Preferences (10.2). This contacts Apple on the Net and checks to see which updates are available for the system which the computer is running. Many of the updates are very large files and can take a long time to download, even on high-speed internet access, so care needs to be taken to decide which files are needed.
GARAGE BAND

Tony gave a brief overview of the Garage Band application and demonstrated a few of its features, including its ability to record music from an external source, such as a connected MIDI keyboard. Garage Band can change the instument voice to a number of present sounds, and the tempo of the music can be chosen. Hundreds of built-in sounds loops can be used for accompaniments, enabling multiple tracks to be played. The volume of each track can be individually controlled, both with a master setting for the track, or using precise settings for each part, so that crescendo/diminuendo effects can be created. More to come at a later date on this creative application!
REMINDERS

Remember to: Continue to send in suggestions for the proposed October combined AMUG/AUGC meeting.

Next AMUG Evening meeting will be on Friday September 24, 2004

Next AMUG Daytime Meeting will be on Monday September 20 at Bob Austin's home

[Committee Meeting on Mactropolis:  Tuesday September 14 at 9:00pm

Regards to all....

Secretary: Tony Climo, Aoraki MacIntosh Users Group