C C C C N E W S L E T T E R
CENTRAL COAST COMPUTER CLUB
Santa Maria, California
VOLUME XVIII: NUMBER 2 FEBRUARY, 2003
NEXT MEETING: February 18, 2003 6:00PM KNOLLWOOD VILLAGE 4012 S. BRADLEY
PRESENTATION: MARTA JORGENSEN PRESENTS COMPUTER TRAINING BY
THE POINT AND CLICK MEDIA SCHOOL IN SOLVANG
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| CONTENTS |
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(1) Officers, Helplines, S.I.G.s
(2) President's Corner Charles Barney
(3) Editor's Comments Dick Trissel
(4) Web Wanderings Gil Smith
(5) Systems S.I.G Dick Trissel
(6) S.I.G. for Novices Amy Malicki
(7) HTML Error Codes Dick Trissel
(8) File Type Association Dick Trissel
(9) What's the "Clipboard"? Dick Trissel
(10) CD Burning Part 1 Dick Trissel
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OFFICERS HELPLINES
President Juno
Charles Barney 937-1240 Gilbert Smith 925-3743
cbarney@lightspeed.net Gs5081@aol.com
Vice President Windows 95/98/ME/XP & VoiceControl
Richard Holmes 938-0622 Amy Malicki 925-5780
holmesr1@juno.com amymal@juno.com
Secretary and Book Librarian Hardware & DOS
Barbara Godwin 934-9885 Ray Isenson 937-6938
yung.bag@verizon.net risenson@juno.com
Treasurer AOL
Gerry Miller 934-1396 Frank Maciel 922-2318
2741 Banyan Way frm8198@aol.com
Santa Maria CA 93455
Gmiller@pronet.net
Disk Librarian Help With Any Problem
Sharon Allen 928-2209 Dick Savage 928-4932
sallen4060@aol.com rsavage65@hotmail.com
Publicity Help With Any Problem
Bill Corning 934-0775 Fred Adams 934-1128
foster95@juno.com wd64acj@netzero.net
Newsletter Editor Visual Basic
Dick Trissel 937-7572 Gerald Miller 934-1396
rtrissel@juno.com Gmiller@pronet.net
SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS (S.I.G.s)
Novice (6:00pm) Systems (5:45pm)
Amy Malicki Dick Trissel
amymal@juno.com rtrissel@juno.com
CCCC Membership is $15 for twelve months ($20 family). For this you
receive:
Monthly newsletter
EXTRA4C E-mail Messages
Access to the clubs software library
Disk of the month (usually for $1)
Helpline support
Monthly presentation
Valuable door prizes
Question and answer sessions
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CCCC Page 2 February 2003
PRESIDENT'S CORNER
by Charles Barney
We kicked-off another new year for the 4Cs with 62 folks present at our
January 21st gathering. It was good to see lots of familiar faces in the
crowd.
I'd like to extend a hearty welcome to new member Roy Leone who decided to
join us at the meeting. Welcome aboard Roy! We hope that you will find your
time spent with our user group a most rewarding and enjoyable one.
The new SIG formats seemed to be well-received and the confusion over the
changes minimal. For those not present, Dick is now holding his heavily-
attended Systems SIG in the main room using the club's desktop machine and
projector while Amy has begun a new Novice SIG comprised of a more intimate
group in the library. The starting times have remained the same.
As guest speaker for the evening, it was our pleasure to have with us once
again the erudite and energetic software engineer/local business owner
Marty Joel. During his presentation which he referred to as "The Awesome
Computer", Marty did an excellent job giving a simplified explanation of
what goes into the computer's basic functions. These included topics such
as analog and digital electronics, binary math, transistor logic gates,
microprocessors, memory, clock timing, major components and sub-systems,
and software that all work together allowing us to perform useful tasks
such as this column I am presently writing. I'm sure that most of you who
heard Marty's talk came away with some new knowledge and a better
appreciation of what takes place "under the hood" of your personal
computer.
The Club's PC was apparently quite aware of absent members and decided to
punish the no-shows by calling them more than 2 to 1 over those present
just to point out that they could have won a door prize. That list of
miserables included Hank Dolcini, Robert Walton, Stanley Voris, Lloyd Gay,
Carolyn Smith, Peter Dettelis, George Keys, Frank Peeples, Gary Aston,
Joann McBride, and Bob Sanford.
Door prize winners were Don Feragen - Hemera Clip Art 100,000, Allen
Alderson - Memorex Safe CD Marker Pens, Barbara Tucker - Microsoft Combat
Flight Simulator 3, Marjorie Hoogenbosch - Broderbund Calendar Creator v.9,
and Carter Jones - Mindshare Gel Wrist Support Mouse Pad.
Membership annual dues were payable in January and I know that most of you
have already paid. We will be giving just one month's grace period to all
others. If your payment of $15 for individual or $20 for family dues are
not recorded by the Treasurer at the end of February, you will be
considered dropped from membership (no more newsletter and removed from
door prize eligibility). We hate to lose anyone, so if you have not yet
done so, please take the time to send in your payment to Gerald Miller at
the address on the front of this newsletter, or bring it with you to the
February meeting. Thanks.
At the upcoming meeting on February 18th we plan to have Marta Jorgenson
from the Point and Click Media School there to tell us about the many
services offered by her area business. Hope to see you all there! -Charles
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CCCC Page 3 February 2003
EDITOR'S COMMENTS
by Dick Trissel
As the notice elsewhere in this newsletter says, this is the last
newsletter for any member that doesn't pay his/her dues by meeting end
February 18.
It is very encouraging that, as of this writing, there are nearly 70
members paid up for 2003. We had over 60 members in attendance at the
January meeting. Since it is not likely all members can attend every
meeting, it looks like we will have a very active group for 2003.
The implication is that the club staff and volunteers are doing an
acceptable job. Now is the time to make any suggestions you might have to
improve the club's operation. The officers and support people meet every
month to discuss the club's current and future activities and member
support. So, any suggestions can be made to any of the club's officers,
either in person or by e-mail, and they will be discussed at the next staff
meeting.
You may have noticed that we currently aren't doing much in the way of
providing specific support for the users of Windows XP. About a year ago,
the officers and staff agreed to wait and see how much need there was for a
concentrated XP support effort. The only way the staff can tell if that
kind of support is needed is by the member requests, either at the S.I.G.
sessions or to the help volunteers. So far, there hasn't been more than a
few comments about XP. Either there aren't very many XP users in the club,
or XP is so good no one needs help, or both.
I admit that, as the Systems S.I.G. moderator, I don't have the knowledge
of XP to be of much help. I rely on other attendees to answer the few XP
questions. I think Amy Malicki is pretty much in the same position with
her S.I.G.
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CCCC Page 4 February 2003
WEB WANDERINGS
By Gil Smith
SPACE WEATHER
Find all kinds of information about space and the weather. Curious as to
how the Aurora Borealis shows up in our sky? Did you know that the comet
Linear is heading for the sun? See pictures of the Leonid meteor storm
from August over Australia. All this and more at Space Weather.
http://www.spaceweather.com/
SEND A PART OF YOURSELF TO MARS
Ever want to go into outer space? Now part of you can with NASA's Mars
Exploration Rover 2003 mission. All you do is click the "sign me up" link
and give them your name. Your name will be sent to Mars with the 2003
mission. And best of all it's free.
http://spacekids.hq.nasa.gov/2003/home.htm
POWERS OF TEN
View the Milky Way and zoom down until you get to the atoms of a single
cell. Each time you zoom in you see a new picture that's 10 x closer than
the previous one. Here's how it works: Starting at the Milky Way, each
picture gets 10 times closer until you are seeing our solar system, then
earth, then Florida, then a tree, then a leaf on the tree, then the cells
on the leaf, and finally you zoom in to see the protons and electrons. It
runs in a gradual slideshow or you can use the navigation buttons to zoom
in and out. Check it out!
http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/primer/java/scienceopticsu/powersof10/
TERRA FLY
Are you ready to explore a digital earth? Well at Terra Fly, you can do
just that. Type in the address and be ready to soar. Using Satellites to
view the world you get a nice image of where you are while you fly. Flying
on this site is free, but there may be a charge if you actually want to
order the picture you are seeing. Read the frequently asked questions on
the site to get the full details. Looking down on your house from space is
strange. It's like viewing the world from the window of an airplane except
there's no plane. Enjoy your bird's eye view of the world!
http://www.terrafly.com/
TRUTH OR FICTION
(Contributed by Jerry Miller)
This site can be one of the most time consuming that you will find
anywhere. It has stories in over 20 categories from Animals to Viruses and
it tells you whether they are true or not. The site has a search feature
where you may enter a couple of unique words from the story and get "just
the facts".
http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/iceberg.htm
PETS WELCOME
It's getting to be winter and that means the holidays are coming and you
have to find someone to watch Fido and Fluffy while you visit Aunt Betty
for Christmas. Well why not include the entire family? Find out where
your pet is welcome before you travel and take them with you. Choose
"Listings" and you'll find a lot of different choices in the US, Canada,
and abroad as well as Ski Resorts, Emergency Vets, Bed and Breakfasts,
Cabins and Cottages, Amusement Parks, and many other places that are pet
friendly. Choose one of these options and then search by state. This site
is definitely a welcome addition to your travel plans. Enjoy!
http://www.petswelcome.com/
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FEBRUARY COOKIES
Thanks in advance to the August "Cookies" volunteers:
Ben Middleton and Barbara Tucker.
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CCCC Page 5 February 2003
SYSTEMS S.I.G.
by Dick Trissel
It worked! We had our Systems S.I.G. meeting in the main room for the
first time and I think you were all more comfortable than in the Pool Room.
However, I did notice some people were weaving back and forth looking
around the person in front of them. I don't know if they were trying to
see me (heaven forbid) or the projector screen.
Speaking of which, those that saw the Goldberg New Year animation (or
anyone that didn't), you can get a copy of the 61Kb file from me for the
asking--send me an e-mail request.
This file requires associating a .swf type file to Internet Explorer (or
maybe Netscape). See the article elsewhere in this newsletter on File Type
Association.
As promised, much time was spent answering questions about burning compact
discs. Many questions involved the closing of CDs and compatibility with
other CD devices. In order to keep the discussions from getting too long,
we concentrated on data discs using Easy CD Creator software--particularly
the DirectCD program. We formatted a CD-R disc in order to show what the
screen looks like when you choose to "eject" a formatted CD-R disc.
There are effectively three options available when ejecting a CD-R disc
that has been formatted for "Packet Writing" (drag and drop copying).
1. You can "Leave as is", which means it just ejects the disc. You can
write more on it later, but the disc is only readable in a CD burner.
2. You can close the disc so that is can be read on computer CD players,
and can be made writable again (with an overhead of 15Mb used).
3. You can close the disc permanently so it can be used on most CD
players, but you can never write to it again.
Ejecting a CD-RW formatted disc has no options--the disk is readable on
most computers and some other CD devices (UDF reader must be on the
computer and the CD player must have multiread capability).
And, yes, you must format a CD (either CD-R or CD-RW) before if is usable
for packet writing.
CD-Rs format in about a minute because it only sets up the directory area
on the disc.
CD-RWs take 30 to 40 minutes because it actually formats the entire disc.
Here's a little trick for those CD-RWs that fail to complete the formatting
process (just keeps running in the verify mode). Stop the DirectCD program
(CTRL-ALT-DEL, select DirectCD, and End Task--DON'T click Shutdown). Then
run DirectCD and choose the Quick format option. It will only take a
minute and the disc will be formatted.
I advise you not put labels on CDs--use a special CD marking pen obtainable
from Office Depot, etc. In fact, they were one of the door prizes.
Actually, I only mark my CDs in the clear area of the hub. One member
commented he can not now read a CD he marked with a regular pen.
With the new high-speed CD devices, labels that are not perfectly centered
can cause a sufficient imbalance to damage the disc and/or the drive.
Along that same line, one member noted he had a commercial disc explode in
his CD player. He thinks it may have been cracked.
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CCCC Page 6 February 2003
SPECIAL INTEREST GROUP (S.I.G.)
FOR NOVICES
By Amy L. Malicki
This "NEW" six o'clock session meets in one of the smaller clubrooms. It
is intended to provide answers to new user questions.
Subjects covered last month were Computer components. This time we will be
talking about using the Keyboard and Mouse.
We will talk about Mouse Control, (Pointer, Clicks, and Cursor); Icons,
(creating, moving, hiding, deleting); Windows, (shapes and sizes); also
Menus and Commands; and why it is important to SHUT DOWN properly using the
START button.
There will not be an overhead projector. However, there will be
instruction sheets with space to make notes about the subjects being
discussed and a Glossary of basic computer terms.
The Agenda is just to provide some direction and will be adjusted to fill
the needs of those attending.
Future sessions will cover Opening and Closing Programs, Saving to a floppy
disk and Using the Help Program and Using a Word Processor
Bring your questions, even if you are not a novice, and I will try to
answer them
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CCCC Page 7 February 2003
HTML ERROR CODES
by Dick Trissel
It happens to all of us. We're surfing along, and up comes an error
(usually 404). What do all those error codes mean? Here's a quick rundown
of the most common.
400 - Bad Request - You probably typed in a URL wrong, the server has no
clue what you're looking for, or you aren't allowed to have access.
Usually, it's a matter of the URL being typed in wrong. Maybe you mixed
upper and lowercase letters or something.
401 - Unauthorized Request - you tried to get to something on the web
server you're not allowed to play with. In other words, you ain't on the
party list.
403 - Forbidden - You can't access the page. You may not have access (it
may require a password), or it may be blocked from your domain.
404 - Not Found - The page you were trying to look at was not found on
the server. This is probably the most common error you'll come across.
What has probably happened is that the web page you were going to has been
removed or re-named.
500 - Internal error - Usually caused by a CGI error. You fill out a
form, but the script used to process it is not working properly.
503 - Service Unavailable - The server may be overloaded, down, or have
other similar problems. Try later
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CCCC Page 8 February 2003
FILE TYPE ASSOCIATION
by Dick Trissel
The January Systems S.I.G. meeting involved a discussion on file
association which is a simple concept but hard to describe.
From the file's point of view (opening with a double click), there can only
be one program associated with it. That is, it can only invoke one
particular application. For example, if you double click a .txt type file
it may be associated to open with Notepad. If it is associated with
Notepad, it can not be made to also open with Wordpad by double clicking
the file. Obviously, trying to have two options (associations) would
confuse the operating system--it wouldn't know which to use. So, you are
not allowed to have more than one application associated with a particular
file type.
However, any particular program can be made to open many different file
types (assuming they are compatible with that program). For example, if
you are running Wordpad, you can open .txt, .doc, .rtf, or .wri type files.
This doesn't involve the association concept--this is simply the capability
of the program.
Now, how do you create an association for a particular file type? If the
file type does not already have a program associated with it, and you
double click the file, the Open With window will pop up with a long list of
the programs you have on your computer. If the program you want to use
isn't listed, click the Other button and type in the path to the program
you want. Be careful of the option to "Always use this program to open
this type of file". If you are sure the program you select is the right
one and you want to permanently associate it with that file type, then
click the box. Leave it unchecked until you have experimented with
different programs. Remember, you can only have one program associated
with any one program.
If you associate a file type, and then find it wasn't right, you can force
an association change. Highlight (select) the file, hold down the shift
key, and click the right mouse button. That will bring up the Open With
window from which you can make a different program associated with that
file type.
Now, wasn't that simple?
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CCCC Page 9 February 2003
WHAT'S THE "CLIPBOARD"?
by Dick Trissel
Here's all the information you ever wanted to know about your Windows
clipboard and related tasks (like selecting text, cut, copy, & paste).
Clipboard - The Windows clipboard is used to temporarily store stuff. This
"stuff" can come in the form of just about anything. images, files,
documents, etc. They can all be placed on the clipboard. Once something
has been copied to the clipboard, it can be pasted into another location.
However, you can only have one item at a time in the clipboard--it
overwrites.
Selecting Text - To select text, simply place your mouse cursor at the
beginning of the text you want to select. Then, keeping the left mouse
button down, drag your mouse cursor to the end of the area you want
selected. If it's a large area, select the first word (then lift up your
mouse button), scroll down to the last word, and hit the SHIFT key as you
left-click. This will quickly select the entire area.
Copy - When you copy something in, say, a word processor, it gets copied to
the clipboard. To copy, select the text and hit the Edit menu, Copy. In
most cases a right-click will display a menu with a COPY command. Or you
can use the "universal" copy shortcut, CTRL-C.
Cut - Works just like copy except it removes the text or item from the
document it's copied from. It's handy for moving around paragraphs or
sentences in a word processor. To use it, select the text you would like
to cut and hit the Edit menu, Cut. In most cases, you can right-click the
selected text and select CUT from the resulting menu. Its shortcut is
normally CTRL-X
Paste - This takes the information from the clipboard and places it in your
document. To use it, just position your cursor where you want the
clipboard contents inserted and hit the Edit menu, Paste. Again, a right-
click usually gives you a menu with a PASTE command. Its shortcut is
usually CTRL-V.
Just a reminder. The information above may lead you to the conclusion that
this is only a word processing deal. It isn't. You can copy and paste
just about anything.
Copy & Paste with No Mistakes!
Have you ever forgotten what was on your clipboard? Well, there's a handy
little Windows accessory called "Clipboard Viewer" made just for you. It
basically shows you what's on your clipboard. It comes in handy when
you've forgotten and don't want to accidentally paste the wrong thing.
To get to it, provided it was installed from the operating system disk, hit
your Start button, Programs, Accessories, System Tools, Clipboard Viewer.
As soon as it opens you'll see what's on your clipboard.
Since it's buried so deep within the programs menu, it might be a good idea
to either drag it's icon to your desktop or taskbar. At least then it's
only a click away.
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CCCC Page 10 February 2003
CD BURNING PART 1
by Dick Trissel
This is the first in a series of articles on using CD-RW (Compact Disc
Read/Write) drives. Obviously, the necessary ingredients are a suitable
computer (minimums--133Mhz CPU, 1GByte hard drive, 32MBytes of RAM) and a
CD-RW drive.
Even if the CD-RW drive stated minimum requirements are more than your
computer capability, this just means you can't use the drive at its maximum
rated speeds. The CD-RW drive speed specifications are stated in the order
of CD-R burn, CD-RW burn, and CD-ROM read. For example, 8x, 4x, 32x means
maximums of 1,200,000 bytes per second, 600,000 bytes per second and
2,400,000 bytes per second (1x = 150,000 bytes per second). But the CD
burning software will let you select slower burn speeds to match your
computer capability.
There are many CD burning programs available. The most popular is the
Adaptec/Roxio Easy CD Creator (ECDC) program set. There are four levels--
ECDC 4 Standard, ECDC 4 Deluxe, ECDC 5 Standard, and ECDC 5 Platinum. The
ECDC 4 Standard comes with some CD burners. The ECDC 5 Platinum costs
about $60. With any ECDC program you can make direct copies, multi-session
discs and packet writing UDF (Universal Data Format) discs on either CD-R
or CD-RW discs. The Deluxe and Platinum have a few features the Standards
don't.
The next most popular is the Ahead Nero 5.5 program set that also comes
with some CD burners It can do almost all that ECDC 5 can do except burn
UDF (packet writing drag and drop) discs on CD-Rs. The next inline is NTI
(NewTech Infosystems) programs. It is equivalent to ECDC 4 Standard,
except it also can't burn UDF discs on CD-Rs. NTI comes with some new CD
burners. It also can be downloaded free from the Web at www.ntius.com.
Then there is Click 'N Burn from Stomp, Inc. It can do all the operations
including UDF to CD-Rs. I've never seen it included with a CD-burner. It
costs about $50.
So, most of the discussions in these articles will assume the user is using
ECDC 4 Standard. Other programs will have similar commands.
Probably the easiest thing to do with a CD burner is to copy a CD. The
user will either have only one CD drive (the burner) or two CD drives, a CD
burner and a CD-ROM player. With two drives, you can put the source CD in
the CD-ROM player. With one drive, the source will be in the CD burner
until copied to the hard drive, and then the target CD will be put in the
CD burner when the program requests it.
However, problems can arise with two drives if the source drive is not able
to keep up with the CD burner. To start with, I recommend the source disk
content be copied to a hard drive folder before starting the burning
process. With two drives the CD burner program will give you the option to
put the source image on the hard drive first. This is definitely a safer
way than copying directly and is usually successful. But, I've had
instances where the source drive failed even in copying to the hard drive
first under burner program control. Until you are sure your drives are
adequate for the speeds you use, I recommend copying the content to the
hard drive first.
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