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The Monthly Edition Of The k-Byte Newsletter |
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| V. 27, No. 7, July 2010 | Users Helping Users |
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The Monthly Edition Of The k-Byte Newsletter |
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| V. 27, No. 7, July 2010 | Users Helping Users |
Contents
Meeting Previews on Page 6
July: The Annual Hardware/Software ZOO
The ZOO is a fun and informal demonstration of gadgets,
computer hardware and software.
Bring the whole family.
August: No Meeting
Quote of the Month
Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must,
like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it.
Thomas Paine [1777]
by Vinny La Bash, http://www.spcug.org, vlabash(at)comcast.net. Published in the Sarasota PC Monitor, the newsletter of the Sarasota Personal Computer Users Group, Inc.
Some people think of a library as a building that houses a collection of books. It's an accurate physical description, but tells you nothing about a library's true value to society. A library is a reservoir of knowledge. From the ancient Library of Alexandria to the Library of Congress, the function of a library has been to make a civilization's knowledge available to those who wish to educate themselves.
Libraries in Windows 7 will probably never serve such a noble purpose, but they can be helpful instruments for those who care to organize their files in a logical, coherent manner. Windows XP used a basic format called Known Folders as places to store files. There was My Documents, My Pictures, and My Music. Vista added a few things, but the basic structure remained the same even though Microsoft removed the "My" portion of the name.
In Windows 7 Microsoft recognizes that people store information anywhere and everywhere on their PC. Libraries allow total control over the Documents Library folder structure. By including a folder in a library you tell Windows where your data is located and the library function will keep track of it. You can put folders located on different disk drives in the same library.
A library acts like a folder with a group of files or sub-folders within it. This is good because you don't have to learn anything radically new in order to start using libraries. It's important to understand however, that folders are not stored within libraries. They merely look that way. A library displays files and folders that may be stored anywhere on your PC including external hard drives.
Libraries have now become an important data management tool. You can create broad categories of information, such as documents or videos. Store them wherever you want in different folders on separate disk drives, and arrange the information by properties such as date, subject and author.
Windows 7 contains a default set of four libraries. There is the Documents library followed by the Music, Pictures, and Videos libraries. Each one works in exactly the same way, and they all replace the standard folders in XP and Vista. Each default library in Windows 7 has some default content which can easily be removed.
Browsing in a library is no different from browsing folders. View the data any way you please, then revise or delete information as desired.
From the Desktop, open the Computer icon. In the left pane under the Desktop miniature icon is the list of the four default libraries. Displaying the content of a library is as simple as left-clicking on the library name.
If you want to create a new library, right-click on the library icon and then select New/Library from the menu. Name the new library in the same way as you would a new folder.
To add a folder to a library, start by clicking on the Windows Explorer icon in the Taskbar. In the left pane, locate the folder you want included in the library and left click it to select it. Don't open the folder. In the toolbar at the top of the Windows Explorer window, click Include in library, and then select a library.
It really is that easy. You can have up to 50 folders in a library which should be enough for most people. To add folders stored on external drives, make sure that the drive is connected to the PC and turned on. Use the same procedure as outlined above.
Other than documents, the most common file types are videos, photos, and music. You can optimize a library for these specific categories. When you optimize a library you change the options that are available for arranging the files in that library. To optimize a library right-click the library you want optimized. Choose Properties from the menu, and choose the file type in the Optimize this library for list.
After a library has outlived its usefulness and you wish to delete it, the library is moved to the Recycle Bin. The files and folders that were stored in the library are intact. No information is lost, but the way the folders were organized is cancelled. If you inadvertently delete one of the four default libraries, it is easily restored by right-clicking Libraries and then selecting the Restore default libraries option.
Here are some basics about what can and can't be included in a library.
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 Drew Kwashnak, Danbury Area Computer Society, http://www.dacs.org/. Published in the DACS newsletter, DACS.doc. Copyright 2010 by Danbury Area Computer Society. Reprinted with permission.
The latest version of the Ubuntu Linux was released in April, 2010. This time around, not only are they releasing a new version called Lucid Lynx, this is a Long Term Support (LTS) version! An LTS version is supported with security updates for 5 years for servers and 3 years on the desktop. The non-LTS releases are supported for 18 months, or until the 3rd new release.
Stylin'
There are a number of improvements with this latest version and the most immediately noticeable change are the large-scale ones in Ubuntu's styling. Gone are the days of the mud brown or chocolate brown theme. Ubuntu changed their default color scheme to purple, and adjusted the icons and theme elements accordingly. To go along with this new color scheme, Ubuntu includes two new themes; the dark Ambiance and light-colored Radiance. The old Human theme is still available from the repositories.
Along with the new style, a very visible, and controversial, change is the movement of the minimize/maximize/close buttons from the right corner of the windows to the left. It takes a little bit of time to get used to its new location and I find myself moving the mouse all over trying to find it.
Apps
A change that I understand, whether or not I agree with it is another matter, is the removal of the Gimp image editor and inclusion of the PiTiVi video editor programs.
The Gimp is the closest open source equivalent to Adobe Photoshop and can even open and save Photoshop's .psd files. It was removed because the program and interface is "complicated" and the most common features are duplicated in the F-Spot photo management software. Thankfully, it is just as easy to install Gimp as it is any other program. You will find it under the Featured Applications for Graphics in the Ubuntu Software Center, or in Synaptic.
As for PiTiVi, I'll have to wait and see about that one. Maybe I'm old-fashioned, but PiTiVi doesn't provide for importing over firewire from my turn-of-the-century Sony Handycam. There are still means of getting the video from the tape to the computer but that will require yet another program such as Kino. After that, then PiTiVi can be used to add transitions and the like.
UbuntuOne
The latest improvements in Ubuntu are related to their cloud offering, UbuntuOne. UbuntuOne is a cloud-based drive offered by Canonical, the corporate backer and developer for Ubuntu. They started a little over a year ago offering 2 GB of space, or 50GB for $10/month, and provided a means to sync files, contacts, notes and bookmarks automatically. Files, contacts and notes can also be accessed, edited and updated through a web browser and will sync up the next time the computer connects. It also allows publishing selected files so that they can be shared with friends as well as a new, paid-for feature of synchronizing UbuntuOne with a Mobile phone's contacts!
New for Lucid, though, is the UbuntuOne Music Store, integrated with the default music player Rythmbox. Much in the same fashion as the iTunes store, within the music player one can search through music offerings, buy and download DRM-free MP3 songs and albums right to the computer. This music is able to be burned to a CD, placed on any music player recognized by Rythmbox and the music is placed in your UbuntuOne account ready to sync with your computers.
The UbuntuOne Music Store is more than just DRM-free music! The Iberian Lynx, which the Lucid Lynx is named after, is an endangered species and so 50% of Canonical's Revenue from music bought through the UbuntuOne Music Store will go to the charity SOS Lynx (http://www.soslynx.org/).
Unlike iTunes, though, the popular music player Banshee also has a plug-in available for handling the UbuntuOne Music Store and other players, such as Amarok, are likely to follow.
Ubuntu 10.04, Lucid Lynx, can be downloaded from the Ubuntu website (http://www.ubuntu.com/desktop/get-ubuntu") today and feel free to come to the DACS Linux SIG every third Wednesday for help, to share your knowledge or explore what Linux has to offer!
Drew Kwashnak is a Linux user at home and has successfully moved the entire household to Linux. Not that they had much of a choice.
If you've connected your camera to your computer, but your camera can't transfer the photos to the PC, first double-check the transfer procedures for your camera. Some cameras require only that you press the power button. Other cameras also require that you turn a mode dial to a USB Transfer mode.
Sometimes data transfer problems occur because your camera's driver (software that tells your PC how to communicate with an external device) has become corrupted. You have a couple of options. You may download the most recent driver for your camera from the manufacturer's Web site, install it, restart your computer, and then try to transfer photos again.
Another option is to bypass the driver problem by using a card reader to transfer photos to your PC. Make sure that you buy a card reader that supports the type of memory card that your camera uses. When you use a card reader, you're less likely to encounter the device conflicts that often occur when a camera's driver conflicts with another device's driver. (This is especially likely to happen if there's more than one digital camera in your home.)
Reprinted with permission from Smart Computing. Visit http://www.smartcomputing.com/groups to learn what Smart Computing can do for you and your user group!
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July General Forum Meeting
We will meet at the Fort Collins Senior Center on: |
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Day
Tuesday |
Date
July 6th |
Time
7:00 PM |
| Meeting Agenda | |
| Time | Topic |
| 7:00 to 7:15 | Announcements and raffle |
| 7:15 to 9:00 | Hardware/Software ZOO |
To check on FRPCUG events in 2010 using a familiar graphical calendar format, connect to the 2010 Graphical Events Calendar
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August General Forum Meeting
We will meet at the Fort Collins Senior Center on: |
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| No Meeting | |
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.
The ZOO is a fun and informal demonstration of gadgets, computer hardware and software. Whether your interest is digital photography, genealogy, music, video, the latest and greatest mobile phone or just about any gadget or software application from the digital world, you might find someone with a similar interest demonstrating a favorite piece of hardware or software.
Bring the whole family
There will be no meeting in August. The Senior Center will be closed for annual maintenance.
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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Calendars created with HTML Calendar Maker Pro
by Dave Chrestenson, Fox Valley PC Association, http://www.fvpca.org/. Published in Fox Tales, the newsletter of the Fox Valley PC Association.
Have you ever gotten a small print from your camera or cell phone and thought it looked pretty nice? 
And decided to have an 8x10 made? And discovered that diagonal lines stair stepped across the page and everything else looked like they were made of colored Legos? And realized why that happened? It's because all pictures are made out of pixels, this is called bitmapped, and there were not enough pixels in your image. So, when it was enlarged, you saw the individual pixels. Now, try an experiment. Open Word (or your favorite word processor) select Times New Roman, size 6 point, and put an "s" on a page. Now change the size to 60 point and put another "s" on the page next to it. Now add a third "s", this time at 600 points. Now print the page out. Look Ma, no pixels! What happened? Why don't characters pixelate also? Welcome to the wonderful, and confusing, world of typography. Let's see why, and learn a bit about what's going on.
First, a given character set, or typeface, is contained in a file and is called a font. Now, if you've ever thought about it, you probably assumed that there was a bitmap for each character in the font, and when you pressed a key the system found that bitmap and printed it. Not so easy. If that were the case you would get pixilation. And that was the way it was done, once upon a time, and there are a few cases where it is still useful (I'll get to those later). Instead, each character is stored as a set of formulas, or equations. If you remember your analytic geometry you will know that any equation can be plotted as a line or curve. So, for a character, there is a set of equations, each of which defines a part of the outline or the character. A straight dash would be easy, four equations, one for each side. A dollar sign would be more complicated. 
When you key in a character the equations are adjusted to define the point size you specified, then the outline of the character is created, then it is filled with the color you selected. (For those seeking more enlightenment, Google "Bezier curves.") But it gets a lot more complicated. For each character there is more than one set. Bold type is not just fat type, if so the "counters" (the little openings in letters like e and o) would get filled in. So the typographer has to design an entirely unique shape for each bold character, one that looks like the normal one, but is heavier. Italics? Same thing. Another design. Italic Bold. Yep, another design. And so on. And how many characters are there? Well, let's see. There's the twenty-six letters of the alphabet of course, ten digits, and, say, fourteen special characters. That's fifty. But how about upper and lower case. Add another twenty-six. Small caps. Another. But just fourteen special characters? Did you know there are four different dashes? And points of ellipsis. And umlauts. And so on. In fact, one of the formats for storing fonts can contain more than a million characters, and it's not uncommon for a well designed font to have over one thousand.
Back to you pressing a key. What happens? First, the character formulas are selected. Then a kerning table that's also built into the font is read. This compares the character you selected with the character immediately before it. Certain combinations of characters have to be printed closer together or farther apart to look correct, this is the function of the kerning table. Next another table is checked. It's been found that if exactly the same shape of character is printed in two different sizes they won't look the same to the eye. So this table looks at the point size you selected and adjusts the character thickness appropriately. (Larger sizes are thinner and closer together.) then a "hints" table is referred to. This is used when the character is going to a device with low resolution, such as a monitor (it adds anti-aliasing to reduce the "threshold effect"). It also makes adjustments to the character to make it display more legibly. Finally, after some more manipulation which I won't take the space to go into here, your character appears somewhere.
Now, all of this is the responsibility of the font designer. And good ones take all of the above into consideration. It's certainly possible to skip some of the above. Ever seen these CD's "Thousand's of fonts for $29.95?" I seriously doubt that they've put much time into each of the above factors. You get what you pay for.
And lastly, I had mentioned above that there are still a few bitmapped fonts around. Why? Because regular fonts, no matter how well designed, have problems with legibility when displayed at small sizes on a monitor. This is a common problem in web design. Bit-mapped fonts are specifically designed for this purpose. So, the next time you key in "Dear Sirs," take a few seconds to think and appreciate the over-worked, under appreciated font designer who spent many sleepless hours to let you make your document look pretty.
Still curious? There are many books on the subject, the one to start with is "The Complete Manual of Typography" by James Felici.
Photo Gallery
This month's featured photographer:
Howard Rosenfeld using a medium format film camera.
Glitter II
Howard has this to say about his photographs:
"One thing that doesn't concern me as a photographic artist is recording the specific settings used for individual shots. However, I can give you a general overview of my technique. I mostly work with medium format Mamiya equipment (both 645 & 6x7)...Fujichrome Film 50 or 100 ASA...deep submersion lab processing (surprisingly still available). I always prefer sharpness and full depth sharpness as well, otherwise known as 'depth of field' problems. Additionally, I prefer rich full colors and since I am always working with transparency film, that generally means underexposure. Exposure is determined by simple manipulation of the in-camera meter and a bit of bracketing (half-stops down from normal, or, with very bright images, half stops up as well). I spend most of my effort on visual study of the subject and especially when working close will take several shots from different viewpoints and distances. It's hard to describe, but I may spend quite awhile with one subject...at least as long as it takes to satisfy myself that I've gotten everything that I want.
When field work is finished and processing completed I will continue to visually study the image (often cropping out with silver tape unimportant or distracting elements). Only then will I go to printing...now drum scanning first...then to digital adjustment of the .tif file (adjustment is to bring the digital file as close the the original transparency as possible)."
To see more of Howard's photos, connect to: http://www.camerartist.com/
Copyright © 2010 by Howard Rosenfeld. 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.
QUESTION: I downloaded my credit card activity from my online account to an Excel 2007 worksheet. I changed the format for the dates from 00/00/0000 to 0/00/00. I downloaded additional activity, but cannot change the format of the dates. I highlighted all of the dates and clicked "Format Cells", Dates. In the Type box I clicked on 3/14/01. I clicked OK. None of the dates in the 00/00/0000 format changed to the 0/00/00 format. What is wrong with my system?
ANSWER: This question has come up very often since Office 2007 has been produced.
The best solution I have found is:
QUESTION: When typing in a Word 2007 document, all of a sudden the type turned to red and was underlined. I must have somehow hit a format key and cannot get back to plain old black.
ANSWER: To change the font back to black:
Click on the down arrow next to the color selection as shown in the picture at right and click on black as indicated and your text will change to black.To get rid of the underlined text:
QUESTION: I have a excel voters list for my voting precinct in alphabetical order of the last names. Column B has last name, C has first name, D has middle name, E has phone number, F has house number, G & H has street names. This list has 850 names.
How can I create a second list with everyone that lives on each street listed together and keep the correct house numbers?
ANSWER: You will need to sort your list by Street Names but make sure that you highlight the whole list and sort by the Street Name column otherwise your list will get mixed up and the information for each voter will be out of line.
QUESTION: How can I choose the position of the icons on my desktop? When I change their position they just jump back to the position that they choose.
ANSWER: Just Right Click on the desktop and choose VIEW. Then UNCHECK Auto Arrange and Align to Grid. You can then drag the icons to the desired position and they will stay there until you move them.
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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.
