Meeting 27 March 2001





               Minutes of the Meeting 27 Mar 2001



1a  Scanning - Jim Hume 

The ACER Scanner discussed was ScannerPrisa 640UT
http//www.acerperipherals.com

{Jim reported good results of scanning slides, including ancient ones - and
example printouts he circulated supported this}

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1b  PDF file downloading problem, Asia Online Jim Hume 

Thanks to a number of our members testing the problem. It proved that the
problem of downloading a large pdf file from our RSL sub-branch website at
Asiaonline http//users.interact.net.au/~pwvr was with the ISP
It did not exist before Interact was taken over by them. 
They have now responded and admit there is no problem with our files.
Their tardy technical advice in response to three emails and two phone
calls was not in my view helpful. 

Quote "reduce the size of the *pdf file into smaller parts
2) change format to *.doc (which handles large presentations quite easily)
3) allow the option to download the file instead of viewing it online.
4) or simply advised his customers to wait 10-15mins to complete the
download before viewing the pages "Unquote

Can you imagine an ISP recommending changing  a 2553kb *.pdf file to a
51.2mb *.doc file
However, strangely the capacity for the file to freeze has now disappeared.
So the problem is partially resolved.

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2a  APC disk/IE version, latest? Graham McCann gmccann@pcug.org.au

It is not clear from the free CD ROMs with the computer magazines, 
specifically the April APC, whether the IE 5.5 included the supplementary 
updates.  How can you tell when the version number does not change?  Who
knows.

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2b  Updates.  Graham McCann gmccann@pcug.org.au

ZDNET sponsor an excellent program which examines the programs on your PC 
and advises you whether there are updates/upgrades available.  It does not 
discriminate between free upgrades and new versions for which you have to 
pay but provides a link to the appropriate site.  It is your choice whether
you upgrade or not. The program is free if you accept the ads or $US24.95 
if you want them eliminated.  If you do not then it will appear next time 
you run the program.  The URL is www.updates.com.

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3.  Picnic reminder - Gloria
{ it was still going strong when I left about 1:05 pm, and no one reported
later.  Thanks for the wine. - AV }

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4. How to retrieve half written email/ Get rid of Quick Time - Elizabeth
Ward 

The problem of the half written email which did a disappearing trick,
solved itself, amazingly enough, the next day.  It was found in DRAFT, but
it took its time.

As for "Quick Time"  as Emil said, it is a huge program and you have to
sort out the one you no longer want, by eliminating all the others. It
needs a lot of experimenting, the same title appearing three times. When I
started yesterday, Gloria's very important email could not be printed, in
fact, nothing could be printed. So I gave up, hoping that Windows might put
things right.

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5 .ICON supplement to SMH  - Emil Joseph 

ICON is the internet guide supplement to the Saturday editions of the
Sydney Morning Herald. It is a very useful resource on things to do
with computers and the internet directed at the beginner and the
casual user. 

Most of the content of the ICON is also reproduced at the SMH site
(www.smh.com.au/icon). You will find many useful lists of web sites,
reviews of software and hardware, how-to tutorials, questions and
answers and hints on computer games.

Two instances:

a collection of web favourites from the latest issue, under broad
categories. Sites that "you cannot afford to miss":
http://www.smh.com.au/icon/0103/24/review2.html

how to covert LPs to MP3 files or compact disks from a December issue:
http://www.smh.com.au/icon/0012/16/news3.html

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6. (Old) Video --> CDROM: How?  Allan Mikkelsen 

Allan said that he had an old home video of about 30 minutes that he would
like converted to CD-ROM as several others wanted copies and he neeeded to
store it for archival purposes.  There is a good article on this in a
recent PCUSER.  Will need a good video capture card, lots of fast hard
disk, and a fast machine.  Emil offered to do the job on a once off basis.
Tape has now been converted, and 27 minutes 55 seconds of video has ended
as 245 megabytes of mpg on a CDROM.  Given the poor quality of the
original, the quality is quite acceptable.

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7. USB to USB Networking -  Peter Hodge 

Peter said that he was wanting to network his laptop with his PC to 
exchange files. He was investigating the use of a USB to USB crossover 
cable that would cost about $70. The laptop has a 10/100 Ethernet 
controller. He was advised that the most efficient, fastest and cheapest 
method of networking would be to install a 10/100 Fast Ethernet Adapter in 
the PC and link the two computers with a red CAT 5 crossover cable. Cost of
the card $31and cable $13.

{Key thing is *crossover* cable - the "red" is irrelevant - and
non-crossover cables can also be red - AV}

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8.  TIP-Telstra charges - Kevin Gascoigne 

You can now arrange to get online access to your Telstra telephone
account, and obtain a printout of the details of each "local" call. This
must be done before you make payment of the account.

I did this in respect of my latest account and found that I am being
charged for unsuccessful attempts to connect to TIP.  Occasionally in the
evenings, one gets a busy signal from TIP and has to try a number of times
to connect. On 22 February,shortly after 10pm, it took six calls over a
period of 20 minutes before I was successful.I now see that I was charged
for each call. I have an external modem which makes it easier to see (and
hear) what is happening. I intend to raise the matter with Telstra.
Good idea if other TIP users could see if they are suffering similar
charges for engaged signals.

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9. NRMA -  Jeff Colwell 

Jeff commended the maps of NSW provided by www.nrma.com.au.

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10.  Maps - Mike D

{ More on theride.com, discussed at a previous meeting wrongly as
thetrip.com.  A very useful/entertaining tool but results not always
reliable. Mike cited 'strange" city routes in Sydney; AV gave Mawson ACT ->
Broome WA example where "fastest route" was via Port Augusta & Alice
Springs and "shortest route" via Burke,Longreach, Mt Isa was 200km shorter
*and* a couple of hours *faster* - but note "shortest route" matched what
he'd spent *many* hours working out a couple of years ago. Also example
where Canb-Perth went though Wagga Wagga and Morgan SA, but Canb-Morgan
went through Cootamundra *not* Wagga Wagga!  Also apparently inconsistent
treatment of remote roads: Gibb River Rd in Kimberley is used for both
shortest and fastest even though pretty 4WD'ish and even for 4WD its 700km
is slower than 1000km on bitumen via Halls Creek; but does not use Tanami
Desert Rd (1000km Halls Creek->Alice Springs) or Great Central Rd (1100km
Laverton WA->Warburton->Ayres Rock) at all, even though both are far more
suitable for 2WD than Gibb River rd.
 
- - - -
Mike D showed examples of scanning and cut/paste of Gregorys maps to get
strip maps of city routes. }

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11. New fast processors - Merv Commons 

The new fast processors 933Mhz and faster can have problems shutting down
in fast mode, the Cmos needs to be changed and the Registry also news
fixing up, Microsoft have a fix for this problem.

It is a cache problem as it cannot be flushed from the Hard Disk Drive in
time and corrupts your Hard Disk Drive.

{late brief additions}

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12. Photoshop 5.5 black snow problem   Rod Blackburn


Under certain circumstances a perfect greyscale screen image in
Photoshop saves with black masses in white areas, clearly displayed from
the saved image by other programs such as IrfanView and SuperJPG. Mike Dinn
said he'd seen similar problems (I don't think he uses Photoshop. I think
he uses PaintShop). No explanations were suggested.

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13. Cartridge factory - visit offer Rod Blackburn 

During a conversation at the Cartridge Factory the proprietor said he
must come along to another meeting and perhaps tell us about his processes
for cartridge refilling. No arrangements were made.

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14. (More on Videos - Mike D ??)

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15 HP 930c Cartridges  - Anony Mouse (aka Mychook Writing)
{Mr  A.. Mouse reported that he got 120 colour pages and still going
*after* warning that running low}

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16. Re-watering biros - Kevin Gascoigne 

With the discussion about refilling ink jet cartridges, it is useful to
note that the syringe used can also come in handy for bringing water- based
ink roller-ball pens back to life. Usually they dry out over time, rather
than run out of ink. One brand, MON AMI, has ink catridges that can be
pulled apart. Injecting about 8 drops of water in at one end onto the foam
interior does the job. Useful if you have an expensive pen and refills are
hard to come by. 

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17. Newbie "out of paper" - Mike D

{Amusing/warning anecdote - a newbie's printer stopped  working as input
tray over-stuffed with paper : Jammed as overfull --> Windows says "Out of
Paper" (as not feeding...  --> newbie wedges even more paper in ....}

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