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May 2009 eNewsletter NVMUG Meeting Warren Walker showed some magnificent pictures. Dee red Trees has her creative music photography website in fine shape. Geof Gonter and Stephen Farber help Midge Lubot and Dee with computer problems, and Geof provides some practical advice for all of us. Neil Raphel talked about social networking and LinkedIn. I have a new MacBook, and Gordon Alexander, our Canadian member, has my old PowerBook G4. And, in this month's raffle, Richard Smith won iWork '09 The Missing Manual by Josh Clark and contributed by O'Reilly. Warren's Digital Photos
Warren is also holding his photograph of the tiny Golden Saxifrage which is less than 1/8 of an inch across. The flower is greenish, and grows to ˝ to 3 inches tall in wet or muddy soil. This picture does not due justice to his fine photograph. The flower is so small that he had to combine six images each at a slightly different focus in Photoshop to get the depth of field that shows in his print. Warren also showed his new card reader which can connect through a USB port to download images from his camera, and which doubles as a little flash drive.
Problem Solving Midge Lubot had a problem with her 17” MacBook. It was fine when she shut it down, but when she opened it up the next morning it would not come on. Geof Gonter worked on it during the meeting. Later he announced that it was working. He had reset the Power Management Unit. Then he discovered that the Airport Card was not working. Geof tried his airport card and it worked, so he announced that Midge’s airport card had apparently died and she would have to buy a new one. Later he announced that the airport card was now working. He wasn’t going to tell us what was wrong, which really got our curiosity up. So he told us he had taken the card out again, and then put it back in pushing much harder so that is seated properly.
Dee Red Trees has been a photographer since 1964. She has never had a new camera in her entire life, and has never owned a digital camera. Dee has an unmatched collection of photographs of musicians, mostly jazz and mostly in black and white.
Dee said her Epson 3170 scanner which she bought from Barry Hayes takes over six minutes to scan one picture. Stephen Farber and have the same kind of scanner, and Stephen said from his experience high end scanners do a slow quality job. The DPI resolution setting is what determines the amount of time. Someone recommended doing a high scan resolution at first so that you do not have to rescan later. Warren said that if you are doing a scan just to see if there is something to work with, any simple quick scan should do. Stephen and Midge lift the cover up or take it off to make three dimensional scans. You can even scan a book. Dee said 99% of her negatives are in black and white. Warren said that he found that RGB scans of black and white images had much better quality than grey scale scans of the same images. Dee has problems with a printer which she had cleaned but still does not work. Geof will look at it. She also has problems with a Pizmo G3 laptop that she bought in 2000. There is no light around the power cord connection. Geof said the cheapest possible solution would be to try a different power cord, next would be a DC-in board, and the most expensive would be to replace the motherboard or a whole unit repair. Stephen Farber will see if he has a power cord for it. Geof said they have had success using Blue Raven Technology in Massachusetts. You can request a DC-board repair for about $119, or order a whole unit repair for $399. You get a six month warranty on your computer afterward. For more information go to http://www.blueraven.com More On Problem Solving Stephen Farber said to use Lightroom if you do not need or cannot afford Photoshop and you want something more than iPhoto. He recommended it to someone who was having problems with Photoshop Elements. Neil Raphel said he would like to see a $500 notebook from Apple. Geof said you know what Apple calls them, “junk.” Geof said they got one in that practically fell apart. Geof said he has to give Microsoft credit because they have to develop software that works with equipment with all kinds of different drives and software. It is easier for Apple to produce better quality because they are a hardware company that sells software. Geof recommends AppleCare when buying a new computer. It gives three years of protection and technical services to answer questions concerning your Apple computer, its operating system, and Apple software programs including iLife and iWork. Geof said that everyone has to make their own choice. Do you go to an Apple dealer where you pay more per hour to find out what the problem is, and to fix it? Or, do you take it to someone who may not know what they are doing? If you are only want to run PC programs on your computer, buy a PC. If you buy a fairly good HP computer, and then do the research to get an installation hack that will run Leopard on your HP, it will take time to get it to do its stuff and you still have to buy Leopard. One school hired them to do a large iMovie project. They teach that stuff in their school even using Express. It took one of their electricians it a long time to do it, so it cost $600 to $700. The guy did a great job, but they could have done it in the school if they wanted to. He said, 55% to 60% of all repairs are simple. Sixty five percent of software problems can be taken care of by the power button. Save your documents. Quit. Shut down your computer. Wait 20 seconds, and then turn it back on. Geof said that static electricity can damage your computer. It can build up over time in a dry room. It can change one 0 to 1, or back. Once a week, turn your computer off. Leave it off for two minutes before you turn it back on. Social Networking Neil Raphael asked if anyone was exploring social networking. Neil has joined the professional network LinkIn at https://www.linkedin.com/ You go to a social network and establish an account. You can put in a contact. LinkedIn is very business oriented. For almost all businesses there are groups you can join, or you can use it as a business to business contact. You can put up a slideshow about your business. It is for peer to peer contact for you as an individual, not your company. You can put your resumé’ out there. Neil does business books for speakers, and also web publishing. They have found contacts. Their listing shows more than 150 contacts. Midge Lubot has some experience with FaceBook with the Kiwanians. They are keeping in touch around New England. She has one contact that makes her nervous. She say FaceBook gives a link to confirm if it is a friend or not, “who are you.” But, she is not sure it is safe to use it.
My computer is to new for me to even pretend to demonstrate it. Neil and Richard wanted to see it and the trackpad with no separate button. There was no problem with reflections on the monitor screen until I deliberately move it to search for reflections from the windows. Neil said that was probably because the screen is so much brighter. Neil's comment was, "That was fast."
Gordon does not get to many of our meetings for two reasons. 1. He has work a photojournalist and has to work on weekends. 2. He lives in Richmond, Quebec which is probably roughly 50 miles above the border.
Over a year ago I told Gordon I wanted to buy a new MacBook when Apple came out with a new version. He asked me to let him know when I did because he would like to buy my PowerBook G4. It was taking me more time to get the money after Apple came out with the new aluminum MacBook When Gordon wrote that he wanted to get a laptop now, I went to Small Dog to by my MacBook. Gordon drove down to the meeting to get my PowerBook G4. |
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Midge and Geof with Midge’s 17” MacBook. Dee’s printer and Dee on the right.
Neil Raphel and Richard Smith watch Hartley Jackson at his new MacBook. Photo by Gordon Alexander.
Gordon Alexander our member from Quebec