Aoraki Macintosh User Group Home Page

Snippets from Previous Meetings

SESSIONS

iMage USB webcam

Fay showed members the new iMage USB webcam which she has recently bought from Ecamm Network in USA. Some details:

• Both Mac (MacOS v10.4+) and Windows compatible.
• No drivers needed - just plug into USB port.
• Comparatively cheap: $US59.95 +S/H (total cost to Fay $NZ117).
• Fast delivery - arrived from USA within a week or ordering.

Visit Ecamm Network's website for further info: http://www.ecamm.com/mac/imagewebcam/

Thank you Fay for bringing this along and sharing it with us.

Other members, please feel welcome to share information on equipment, or your computing experiences.

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

Members shared a number of computing queries with the meeting. Suggested solutions included:

REMOVING E-MAIL BACKGROUND COLOUR

How can I remove the background colour from an e-mail message (eg. AMUG Minutes) if I want to print it?

• Usually when you receive a message in HTML format (which enables formatting features such as font colours, underlining and background colours) it arrives with the HTML turned off and you are unable to change the features. If you want to do so eg. if you want to print the AMUG Minutes without their background colour, then click on the Forward button: the message will open in a new window with the background colour removed, but the other HTML formatting features retained.

However, if you do this, be aware that your e-mail application preferences may change the colour of the main text, as it will treat it as quoted text eg. if you have chosen blue as your colour for 1st-level forwarded text, then all of the message (except the parts altered by HTML headings, underlining, etc) will change to blue, not black. Prevent this by altering your Preferences to black for 1st-level quoting (Entourage: Preferences/View/Color Quoting in Entourage; Mail: Preferences/Fonts & Colors/uncheck Color Quoted Text).

UNREADABLE CAMERA MEMORY STICK

Why does my camera s memory stick sometimes not want to be recognised?

• Problems with memory-sticks not wanting to be recognised by a computer can be caused by them not being correctly formatted. You might:
  • Check with the camera s documentation for information on formatting .
  • Use Disk Utility (In Applications/Utilities) to find how the stick is formatted, and if necessary reformat it.

RECALCITRANT PEN-DRIVE

My pen-drive (aka flash-drive/flask/key) seems to still have photos on it even after I ve trashed them. How come?

• Be aware that putting items in the Trash (whether on your computer or removable media such as USB pen-drives or hard drives) does not get rid of them; it just moves them to the Trash. To get rid of them completely, you must Empty the Trash (under Finder Menu).

MOVING HD ICON

The Mac HD icon on my desktop doesn t seem to stay in the top right-hand corner where I want it. How can I make it do this?

• Where the HD icon ends up is affected by the settings in your Finder View Options. In the Finder, go to the View menu and down to Show View Options. At the bottom of the window which appears, check Keep Arranged, and the HD icon will always be in the top right-hand corner of your screen:

The Keep Arranged menu gives you options of how you want your desktop icons arranged: After the HD icon, the others can be arranged by:

1. Name: order is alphabetical by filename. Date Modified: order is according to when you last saved or changed the file.
2. Date Created: order is according to when the file was first made.
3. Size: order is according to filesize.
4. Kind: (a slightly confusing one!) order is alphabetical groups according to Kind as listed in each item s General Information, then alphabetical within the groups, eg. Adobe PDFs, AppleWorks files, Folders (whatever their name), JPEG images, Web Archives.
5. Label: (also slightly confusing!) this refers to the colour labels which you may have assigned to files: order is alphabetical, but the files with coloured labels are grouped last, and apparently arranged within the group in alphabetical order of the colour name, not the filename!

Note also that in the View Options window, the Show Icon Preview checkbox will show image icons as tiny thumbnails.

DISAPPEARING E-MAIL FOLDERS

Occasionally my e-mail folders seem to disappear. What s happening?

Apart from accidentally deleting them, sub-folders (Mail calls them child folders) may be inadvertently dragged into main folders. A triangle symbol before a folder-name indicates that it has sub-folders inside it:

CHANGING USER NAME

How do I change the User Name which appears near the right of my Menu Bar?

• The User Name shows which user is currently logged in, and if it appears it indicates that Fast User Switching is enabled. However, if your computer is set up for only one user, there s not much point in displaying it.
• To alter the and/or display the User Name, go to System Preferences/Accounts and:
  1. If necessary click the lock (bottom left) and enter password.
  2. In the Password pane, alter the Name field as desired.
  3. Click Login Options at the bottom of the Accounts list.
  4. On the Options pane, check Enable fast user switching (even if you re the only user) and select View as Name.

WHAT IS JAVA?

I sometimes get a message saying that Java needs updating. What is Java

• Java is part of the suite of application frameworks in MacOS X which support a variety of types of software (others include Cocoa and Carbon). According to Mac Help, Java allows the development and execution of cross-platform programs.
• Under the Apple Menu, Software Update will indicate whether an update is available for your computer s Java software.

UNWANTED iPHOTO UPDATING

While I was using iPhoto it started updating, which caused problems with my iPhoto Library. Why did it do this?

• iPhoto (and many other applications) can be set to automatically check for updates if your computer is online. It appears that this check not only finds available updates (as in Software Update) but also downloads them without asking, which can play havoc if you happen to be using iPhoto at the time.
• Prevent this from happening by unchecking this tick-box in the iPhoto Preferences/General panel

BLANK iPHOTO PREVIEWS

Something seems to be wrong with my iPhoto Library, as some preview are missing, showing only blank spaces. How can I get them back?

• If this happens, there are problems with the structure of your iPhoto Library database. These may be solved by rebuilding the Library. However:
• Before you rebuild the Library, it is most important that you back up your images, otherwise data could be lost during the rebuilding process.
• The process for rebuilding depends on which version of iPhoto you are using, and (if you need to do a manual rebuild) on your Operating System version. For detailed instructions go to Apple s Support article: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=107947

NOTE: If you use iPhoto extensively you may be interested in iPhoto Library Manager, a shareware application which enables a number of advanced features. The basic version is a free download, and the fully-featured version is $US19.95. Go to http://www.fatcatsoftware.com/iplm/ for details and download.

Thank you Hugh for supplying information on iPhoto Library Manager. (Thank you to all members who contributed both queries and solutions during this session your help is valuable and greatly appreciated.

HANDY HINT FOR iTUNES & iPHOTO

Both of these applications contain Libraries in which music and image files are stored. As the number of your files increases, it may be more convenient for you to create more than one Library. Do this by holding down the Option key while you open the application, and you will be given the option of creating a new Library, or (if you have already done so) of choosing which Library you would like to open.

Sessions

MacBASICS: FAXING

Sheryl demonstrated the facility that MacOS X has for sending/receiving fax messages from any application which produces a printout.

NB. To send/receive faxes on your computer it must be connected to a telephone line via a modem an issue for those with new Intel computers which do not have one built-in, as did earlier computers ($NZ40 external USB modems are available)

SENDING FAXES

To access the fax sending facility:

• In MacOS 10.3 (Panther and earlier) go to File/Print, then click on the Fax in the printer list.
• In MacOS 10.4 (Tiger) go to File/Print, then click on the PDF button, and click Fax PDF.

This dialogue box will appear:

• Enter the recipientÕs phone number in the 'To' panel (if you are using the MacOS X Address Book, you can select from this). A fax can be sent to more than one recipient.
• If you check the 'Use Cover Page ' box the recipient will be sent an extra page (in addition to the main fax) with a message giving details about the fax — f you don't want this to happen, leave the subject panel blank. If you enter a Subject, note that the Cover page box will automatically be checked.
• Click the 'Fax' button to send the message.

RECEIVING FAXES

To set your computer to receive faxes, go to System Preferences/Print & Fax and click the Faxing button. Check ÒReceive faxes of this computerÓ and enter the Fax Number (your phone number, unless you have a separate fax line) and other details. You can choose what happens to incoming faxes, as unlike with an ordinary fax machine you donÕt have to print messages unless you want to.

Thank you Sheryl for presenting this session with the increasing popularity of of e-mailing, faxing is now of lesser prominence than formerly, but it s still very useful.

SOFTWARE

Hugh gave a brief introduction to several applications which he has come across:

CLUTTER

It's website describes Clutter as...

a small Mac OS X application that lets you put music CDs on your desktop. You can drag them anywhere _ _ they're really windows. Line them up neatly or put them in piles, it's your choice. Each one looks like the real CD's cover, and double_clicking it tells iTunes to play that CD.

Think of Clutter as an alternate user interface to your music collection. When deciding what to play next, instead of searching through a huge alphabetical list, let your eye roam over the covers of your favorite CDs and those you've been listening to recently.

Clutter is freeware, and is a 500KB Zip Archive download. It needs MacOS 10.2> and iTunes 4.5>.For further information and download visit: http://www.sprote.com/clutter/

LINOTYPE FONTEXPLORER

Linotype FontExplorer X is a free utility application which handles the fonts on your computer in the same ways that iTunes handles songs and iPhoto handles images. Its main interface window provides a Source List, Font List, Information Area and Font Preview. Its basic functions are similar to MacOS X's Font Book, but it has additional functions such as cleaning font caches and font optomization. From the FontExplorer website:

Organize your fonts just like your media files using a library, folders, tags and even smart sets. You want direct access to all typefaces from a certain foundry? All italics? Or all fonts tagged with a certain keyword? FontExplorer™" X makes this easy!

All fonts and formats are recognized automatically and can be managed in a comfortable way. You decide whether FontExplorer™ X should take control over the folder structure, or if you want to leave it untouched we built this software to be as unobtrusive as possible.

FontExplorer™ is a 8.9MB download. Visit http://www.linotype.com/2493/fontexplorerx.html for further information and download.

GOOGLE DESKTOP

Another Google product! Google Desktop allows you to search your computer for files, e-mails, web history and other files in much the same way as Spotlight, but goes much further. Whereas Spotlight indicates in which files/folders the relevant search material is found, Google Desktop displays the material in context, eg:

It also displays search results found in previous versions of the file which are cached on you computer Ð even if they have been deleted and the trash has been emptied! Very powerful!

Visit http://desktop.google.com/mac/ for detailed information and download.

Thank you for introducing us to these programs, Hugh — we all benefit from your 'application surfing'

SIBELIUS

Russell introduced the Sibelius suite of software for musical composition. These applications are designed for all levels of musical learning, ranging from primary school to university, and cover a broad spectrum of aspects of composition, orchestration, musical knowledge and understandings, varying styles of music and aural training. Musical coverage includes band, rock & pop, choral & religious, jazz, classical, film and TV styles.

Russell played demonstration videos which gave members an outline of each of the component applications of Sibelius (illustrated above); these showed the scope and comprehensiveness of the software, and gave some idea of the uses of each in educational situations. Sibelius is available in both a fully-featured pro version, and a lite student edition. Price ($NZ+GST) are $440 for Sibelius 4, and $111 for Auralia (both Student Editions). Sibelius is available from Computer Music Ltd (PO Box 8, Helensville, Auckland).

Full details and demos are available on the Sibelius website visit: http://www.sibelius.com/home/index_flash.html

What a great resource, Russell thank you for sharing it with us! While it may not be everyone s forte (pardon the pun!) it gives us an idea of the way computers can be used in specialist educational situations.

MIDI FILES

Tony gave a brief explanation of MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) files:

MIDI is an electronic format that enables electronic musical instruments, computers and other equipment to communicate, control and synchronize with each other. MIDI does not transmit an audio signal or media it transmits digital data "event messages" such as the pitch and intensity of musical notes to play, and controls such as volume, vibrato and panning and tempo. MIDI files are essentially a series of digital (numbered) instructions to tell the computer (or other electronic music-producer) to play notes of certain pitch, tone quality and duration. These files are comparatively small: typically only 20-30KB for a song.

Thousands of MIDI files of all types of musical styles are available as free downloads from Internet sites such as:
http://www.mightymidi.com/
http://www.mididb.com/
http://www.classicalmidi.co.uk/page7.htm
http://www.classicalarchives.com/midi/

MIDI files can be imported into Garage Band for editing and manipulation (see below).

GARAGE BAND

Tony gave a brief overview of the Garage Band application which comes on your Mac as part of the iLife suite of programs. With a little bit of understanding about its setup it s easy to use, produces professional results and is fun!

Tony demonstrated a few of its features, including its ability to input notes from the on-screen keyboard, or use the computer keyboard for what is termed musical typing . You can also record music from an external source, such as a connected MIDI keyboard. He also gave a quick look at how MIDI files can be imported and adapted, even if you re not musical! using MIDI files anyone can take a basic piece of music and:

• change the tempo (speed)
• change each of the instruments
• alter the volume of each separate instrument, even adjust how to what extent you want each track to be played through the left or right speaker of a stero system
• add rhythm patterns to the music
• adjust the volume of each part of individual tracks.

Garage Band can change the instrument 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.

Garage Band is great for precise editing of audio tracks, and is therefore a great tool for producing customised soundtracks. The latest version, Garage Band 3, includes facility for importing a movie from iMovie HD as video track, to which a musical soundtrack can be added. Although this can be done in iMovie at a basic level, Garage Band allows for more advanced handling of the soundtrack files.

After the meeting a comment was made, That's got me motivated to see what I can do with Garage Band . Good stuff!