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The Monthly Edition Of The k-Byte Newsletter |
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| V. 27, No. 5, May 2010 | Users Helping Users |
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The Monthly Edition Of The k-Byte Newsletter |
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| V. 27, No. 5, May 2010 | Users Helping Users |
Contents
Meeting Previews on Page 6
May: Webroot Security Software
See a demonstration of a new product and ask questions of the visitors from Webroot.
June: Today's Linux Desktop
Linux is not just for the computer programmer.
This meeting will demonstrate why.
Quote of the Month
All excellent things are as difficult as they are rare.
Benedict Spinoza [1677]
by Paul Braget, President, Olympia Microcomputer Users Group, http://olymug.org, president(at)olymug.org
It is awesome what one can do with a camera today. With a camera in hand and a photo manipulation editor/program (application), one could only imagine what may be next on the to-do list. It enlarges our world, especially with open access to various editing tools. One of the tools that will work with multiple platforms (e.g. Windows, Mac, Linux, Unix) is the GIMP.
GIMP (The GNU Image Manipulation Program) is a free software raster graphics editor. Primarily, GIMP is used as a tool for photo manipulations, such as resizing, editing, and cropping photos, combining multiple images, and converting between different image formats.
I was first introduced to this graphical program by a fellow student while working at the resource center (computer lab) at South Puget Sound Community College in 1997. It allowed us to work in the graphic arts field without spending tons of cash.
In the media, this popular application caught the attention of many in the photography field. As a popular application, GIMP is regularly reviewed and criticized, the reviews often targeting the fitness of GIMP for use in professional environments; for example, GIMP is often cited as a replacement for Adobe Photoshop. Even though comparisons to Photoshop are of regular occurrence, the maintainers of GIMP state that GIMP does not aim to replicate Photoshop.
A Google search for "Gimp vs Photoshop" in quotes currently shows 8,750 hits on my Ubuntu Machine (8.04) using the FireFox search option. I've been seeing this flame war going on since the turn of the century. A use of a program should not be judged by (flame wars) quantity (or how many sold), but should be utilized for its quality (price vs performance).
Photoshop costs around $700 these days, and GIMP is free, so of course if cost is a main factor you're going to swerve towards GIMP. But—and you knew there was a 'but' coming—it's not that simple. Photoshop has two leads over GIMP: (1) patented features, and (2) the interface that everyone is used to. Most especially, GIMP is out of the running for professional print shop editing, thanks to the patent lock on industrial features such as color correction and CMYK. GIMP can emulate these features with work-arounds, or it can get sued, and that's all there is to it.
A common misperception is that GIMP lacks many more features that Photoshop has. In fact, with the exception of features that depend on patented algorithms, GIMP is 99% on par with Photoshop in capabilities. It's just that Photoshop users try GIMP, are immediately lost in the different and somewhat baroque interface, and leave in terror. Having the features doesn't do you much good if you can't find them!
Oki-doki, now that the comparisons have been made short and sweet, one might ask, "Where can I find this Graphical Image Manipulation Program?" It comes with the Ubuntu operating system as part of a packaged deal. Or the links below will guide you to your favorite operating system platform:
For help in getting started with GIMP, online tutorials abound:
[Editor's Note: Two recommended books on GIMP are:
Beginning GIMP : From Novice to Professional, 2nd ed. Peck, Akkana. Apress L. P., 2009. ISBN-13: 9781430210702
GIMP2 for Photographers: Image Editing with Open Source Software. Goelker, Klaus. Rocky Nook, 2006. ISBN-13: 9781933952031]
This article has been obtained from APCUG with the author's permission for publication by APCUG member groups; all other uses require the permission of the author (see e-mail address above).
Published monthly, k-Byte is the official newsletter of the Front Range Personal Computer Users Group (FRPCUG): our mailing address is PMB 152, 305 W. Magnolia, Fort Collins, Colorado 80521.
Opinions expressed in k-Byte are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the group or its members. Publication of information in k-Byte constitutes no guarantee of accuracy. Use of any information found in this publication is at the sole risk of the user. Neither k-Byte, nor its officers, nor its editors or contributors assume any liability for damages resulting from use of information in this publication.
Submissions
Articles, letters and short items of interest on computer-related topics are welcome and encouraged. All items submitted for publication are subject to editing. Send your contribution to the editor via e-mail attachment. If you have questions about a submission, please contact the editor for information.
Copyright and Trademark Information
k-Byte is copyrighted ©2010 by the Front Range Personal Computer Users Group. The k-Byte logo and the Front Range PC Users Group logo are Trademarked by the Front Range PC Users Group. Unless otherwise noted, other nonprofit users groups may reprint or quote from any articles appearing in k-Byte without prior permission, provided that: a) proper author and publication credits are given; b) that a copy of the publication in which the article appears is sent at no cost to k-Byte at the above mailing address, or emailed to contact(at)frpcug.org; and c) any additional instructions/restrictions contained in the article are followed. User groups wishing to exchange newsletters with FRPCUG are invited to send a copy of their newsletter together with an exchange request.
Disclaimer
IBM PC, OS/2, Compaq, HP, Dell, UNIX, Windows MAC, Apple Computer and other trademarks occasionally mentioned in k-Byte are registered trademarks of International Business Machines, Inc., Hewlett-Packard Corporation, Microsoft, Dell Inc., Apple Computer Inc., or their owners respectively. Neither FRPCUG nor its newsletter k-Byte are connected in any way with any manufacturer or seller. Acceptance by FRPCUG of donated products or services from suppliers, or inclusion of a supplier in the FRPCUG Partner list does not imply that any continuing financial support is received or expected by FRPCUG. Nor do such activities imply an endorsement of either the supplier or product or service. Such information is made available to members as a service. Use of any product or supplier found in this publication, or any FRPCUG publication, is at the sole risk of the user.
About FRPCUG
FRPCUG is an independent nonprofit computer society, so incorporated with the State of Colorado and open to anyone interested in personal computers using any operating system: Windows, Linux or MAC, and digital hardware (such as music/video players, smart phones, etc.). Its purpose is to provide an educational and scientific forum of mutual benefit for members of the community regardless of knowledge level. FRPCUG holds a monthly meeting and conducts various special interest groups (SIGs) and seminars. Members have voting privileges, subscription to the k-Byte newsletter, and access to SIGs and selected seminars. Annual dues are $25 for individual/family membership ($20 for students) and $50 for corporate/group membership.
by Ron Hirsch, Boca Raton Computer Society, Florida, http://www.brcs.org, Ronhirsch1439(at)comcast.net
WHAT MEDIUM SHOULD I USE TO BACK THINGS UP?
In the "olden days," the choices were fairly limited. Floppy disks and tapes were about it. These days, those two media are not the ones of choice. Floppies have limited storage space, and most people don't have a tape drive, nor should they bother to get one these days.
The two choices that I would recommend are external USB drives, which many people have or flash drives which many people also may have. If you're not familiar with these devices, you should become familiar—they are very inexpensive now and are the perfect media for backing up purposes, transporting, and archiving files. Or you can use a ZIP disk, if you have a ZIP drive, or use a CD rewritable disk.
To "burn" a CD, you must be familiar with this process. If you have a recordable or rewriteable drive on your machine, there should be a software utility to handle copying files. Usually this utility is on the CD that came with your hardware. But, it's possible that the utility wasn't loaded on at the factory. Check through the manual or help files to learn more about this.
Remember, once you get into the habit of backing things up, you can feel more comfortable about not losing lots of time and effort trying to reconstruct things. And, when you get a new computer, your new machine can take the backup medium you used, and copy it all (as desired) onto the hard drive of the new machine.
ONE FURTHER RECOMMENDATION TO SAVE YOUR "STUFF"
One area that most users don't bother to consider, is the use of an uninterruptible power supply (UPS). These units plug into your wall outlet, and then the computer and monitor plug into it. Many don't feel that this is of any value to them, but I'll bet that they've had a crash during a power blink. The primary use of such a device is to keep your computer and monitor running when there is a power failure, either an extended one, or momentary power blink. The purpose of a UPS is not to allow you to keep working for an extended period when the power goes off, but to allow you to save your work, and shut down in an orderly fashion. Or, when the power "blinks", your system doesn't crash, and you lose the work that you have on screen. Even a one tenth of a second blink can wipe out what you're working on. And, if you haven't just saved it, you've lost it.
Furthermore, all computers should be connected via a high end surge protector to protect against line fluctuations and power surges. A UPS is also just about the best protection that you can use here. And, these days, UPS units are available for not much more than the cost of a good surge protector. Check Costco for some good values here. A capacity of 300-500 VA is a reasonable range for most home computers. Remember, as a minimum, you need to have your computer and monitor connected via the UPS. Without a monitor, your computer isn't good for much.
So, HAPPY backing up—try it. The day will definitely come when you'll be glad you did. And once you get to be an expert at it, you can impress your friends by teaching them.
This article has been obtained from APCUG with the author's permission for publication by APCUG member groups; all other uses require the permission of the author (see e-mail address above).
by Phil Sorrentino, President, Sarasota PCUG, Florida, http://www.spcug.org, president(at)spcug.org
This morning, it happened again. I started the computer in the morning, as I do every morning, and staring me in the face was the dreaded "system disk failure" message. A chill went down my spine. It seemed like this happened only about a year or two years ago. When I thought further, it was 2005 when it happened, almost 5 years ago, so maybe that's not too bad. As I ate breakfast, I rapidly thought about the hardware in that computer. (I currently have 3 desktops that I am using for various activities in the home, but this was my main computer, the one other family members use).
Panic started to set-in:
Were the disk drives 160GB, or 250GB? When were they installed? Were they Seagate or Western Digital? What interface is used in that computer? Are they formatted in NTFS or FAT32? Well, if it was the C: drive then it must be NTFS. I'll have to open the chassis and look at the drives.
Fortunately, this story has a very happy ending. After breakfast, as I knelt down to look at the desktop chassis, to see what was the best approach to removing the cables and other things around the chassis, I spied a floppy disk in the floppy disk drive. Eureka! XP was trying to boot from the floppy: an impossible task, so it reported a disk failure, obviously. Most desktop computers today don't have a floppy disk drive, so this will probably not happen to most people.
However, it got me thinking that the answers to all of the questions I had during breakfast, should be in one place, probably along with a lot of other information that defines the current computer hardware setup. So it's probably not a bad idea to gather all of this information, while the computer is operating, and put a hard copy printout in a safe place. The disk drive information is probably the most important for this kind of failure, but it is a good idea to have all the basic hardware information in one easily accessed place. Here is a list of the things that you might want to have. You may not need all of these so use only those that are pertinent to your hardware setup. (If there's anything that I've forgotten, just add it to the list, and let me know by e-mail). I'll start with the disk drive information because that is what you'll need if the drive goes down, or you may need if you have to re-install the entire system. (By the way, you can accomplish all of this by using the free program, Belarc Advisor. Belarc produces a listing of almost all of the following pieces of information and additional information in the computer security area—see partial Belarc Advisor display below):
Disk Drive 1
Disk Drive 2
CPU
Processors (e.g., 2—only used for multi-core processors (e.g. Intel Core Duo))
Memory
Display Adapter (If not on Motherboard)
Networking
USB Devices
This article has been obtained from APCUG with the author's permission for publication by APCUG member groups; all other uses require the permission of the author (see e-mail address above).
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May General Forum Meeting
We will meet at the Fort Collins Senior Center on: |
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Day
Tuesday |
Date
May 4th |
Time
7:00 PM |
| Meeting Agenda | |
| Time | Topic |
| 7:00 to 7:15 | Announcements and raffle |
| 7:15 to 8:30 | Webroot Security Software |
| 8:30 to 8:40 | Break |
| 8:40 to 9:00 | Open Forum |
To check on FRPCUG events in 2010 using a familiar graphical calendar format, connect to the 2010 Graphical Events Calendar
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June General Forum Meeting
We will meet at the Fort Collins Senior Center on: |
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Day
Tuesday |
Date
June 1st |
Time
7:00 PM |
| Meeting Agenda | |
| Time | Topic |
| 7:00 to 7:15 | Announcements and raffle |
| 7:15 to 8:00 | Open Forum |
| 8:00 to 8:10 | Break |
| 8:10 to 9:00 | Today's Linux Desktop |
See you at the meetings!
Get full membership benefits. If you are not a current member, download and complete a Membership Application. Mail the completed application and your payment to the address listed, or better yet, bring the application to the next meeting.
If you have ever wondered how computer security software works, plan on attending the May meeting. Webroot Software will provide an overview of the latest trends in Consumer Internet Security. Included in this presentation will be an in depth demonstration of their latest Consumer Internet Security Suite—Webroot Internet Security Complete—that will be launching in late summer 2010. This will be an interactive session where the group can ask questions of Webroot's Engineering and Product Management team members.
The June meeting will provide samples of several Linux distributions plus a view of some compatible software. Remember, Linux is an open source (free) operating system. So even you confirmed Windows users will find this information interesting and useful.
Digital Imaging SIG
The Digital Imaging SIG is a forum for discussion of digital imaging hardware and software. The meetings are held every 2nd Tuesday of the month at 7:00 PM in the Senior Center Lobby. The meeting format is informal, using the Shop Talk sessions as a basis. For more information, contact Mike Morris at twriterext(at)gmail.com.
New Technology SIG
The New Technology SIG provides advance support for all PC related operating system and telecommunication issues. The meetings are held at 7:00 PM on the third Thursday of each month at Bluebird Manufacturing Inc., 1421 Webster Avenue, in Fort Collins. For more information, contact Chuck McJilton at 970-493-2987.
Shop Talk
One-on-one assistance. Drop in to the Senior Center lobby on any Saturday (holidays excepted) from 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM
Board Meeting
FRPCUG's executive board meets on Wednesday of the week following the General Forum meeting. All members are welcome and are encouraged to attend. These meetings are held at 7:00 PM in the Staff Board Room of the Fort Collins Senior Center.
For a view of all FRPCUG activities in 2010, in a traditional graphical calendar format, connect to the Graphical Events Calendar
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Shop Talk 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM in Activity Room 1 (AC1) |
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General Forum Meeting 7:00 PM |
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Digital Imaging SIG 7:00 PM |
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Board Meeting 7:00 PM |
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Shop Talk 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM in AC1 |
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Technology SIG 7:00 PM |
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Shop Talk 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM in AC1 |
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Shop Talk 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM in AC1 |
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Memorial Day Holiday |
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FRPCUG General Forum Meeting 7:00 PM |
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Shop Talk 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM |
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Digital Imaging SIG Meeting 7:00 PM |
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FRPCUG Board Meeting 7:00 PM |
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Shop Talk 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM |
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Technology SIG Meeting 7:00 PM |
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Shop Talk 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM |
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Calendars created with HTML Calendar Maker Pro
Photo Gallery
This month's featured photographer:
Bert Broekstra using a Nikon E8700 camera.
Hanging Lake
Camera Settings:
Exposure Program = Normal, F Number = 3.0, Exposure time = 1/36 seconds, Focal Length = 12.70 mm
Copyright © 2010 by Bert Broekstra. All rights reserved. Send requests for copies/reprint permissions to kbyte(at)frpcug.org
Pamela Tabak receives numerous computer-related questions via e-mail and during classroom presentations. She selects those she feels are of common interest to most members and forwards them to us for publication.
Pamela invites members to ask their questions at http://tinyurl.com/ask-pamela. More often than not you will receive and answer within 24 hours.
QUICK TIPS:
BOOKMARKS in Yahoo Mail:
Configuring the Bookmark:
Change Name of Bookmark:
Shortcut to NEW Email Message:
Avoid Date Misinterpretations:
E-Mail Etiquette:
ALARMING STATISTICS:
Make the Internet a Safer Place to Surf
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FRPCUG CONTACTS
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Telephone Area Code 970
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| Title | Name | Work Phone | Home Phone | |
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FRPCUG Officers |
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| President | Mike Morris | 461-2002 | twriterext(at)gmail.com | |
| Vice President | Mike Loughlin | 416-5824 | mlough(at)frii.com | |
| Treasurer | Chris Ingham | 226-9055 | chris.ingham(at)hotmail.com | |
| Secretary | Chuck McJilton | 493-2987 | cdmcjs(at)gmail.com | |
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k-Byte Staff |
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| Editor-in-Chief | Mike Morris | 461-2002 | twriterext(at)gmail.com | |
| Features Editor | Mike Morris | 461-2002 | twriterext(at)gmail.com | |
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Other Contacts |
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| Membership Coordinator | Jack Linder | 663-2151 | jack(at)frpcug.org | |
| Technology SIG Leader | Chuck McJilton | 491-1011 | 493-2987 | cdmcjs(at)gmail.com |
| Digital Imaging SIG Leader | Mike Morris | 461-2002 | twriterext(at)gmail.com | |
| Publicity | Mike Morris | 461-2002 | twriterext(at)gmail.com | |
| FRPCUG Fax Line | 493-1408 | |||
| FRPCUG Home Page w/ E-Mail | http://www.frpcug.org | |||
| FRPCUG Officer E-Mail | board(at)frpcug.org | |||
| Library Request E-Mail | library(at)frpcug.org | |||
The Fort Collins Senior Center is located at 1200 Raintree Drive. This site is situated at the northwest corner of the Shields and Raintree Drive intersection, on the north side of the Raintree Shopping Center, and just west of the bank building on the corner of Shields and Raintree (see map at right).
Check the marquee at the main entrance for directions to the specific meeting room.
