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| Volume 21 | September, 2003 | Issue No. 09 |
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Regular Meeting
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Wednesday, September 17 at 7:00 PM Caseyville Township Bldg. Don't
forget to read the new proposed Constitution and By-Laws
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Board |
Wednesday, October 1 Ryan's Steakhouse Everyone is welcome |
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This September 17th
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An introduction into Linux.......the other operating system for PC's
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Next October 15th
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1. Nominations for club officers (Note there may be a last minute substitution for items 2 and 3.) |
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Hello From The
Pres... |
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LINUX
ANYONE ? For
those of you who have been struggling with Linux, your prayers
are answered. For those of you who have never heard of Linux,
prepare to be enlightened. Linux is a subject that was on quite
a few of our “What Demo Do You Want?” surveys, so we
decided to put together a great demo so everyone could see what
it was all about. As I said last month, this demo will involve
a few of our Linux literate users and we will have all the
flavors of Linux available on CD for the club members to buy
for a buck each. Come to the meeting and see Linux in action.
We
presented the By-Laws to everyone last month. This month
we’ll vote on them and officially adopt them if everyone
agrees. Please be at the meeting if you want to vote on the
by-laws.
COLLEGE
OF DUPAGE SHOW The
show up in Chicago is scheduled for September 28th.
If anyone is interested, please put your name on the sign up
sheet and we’ll see if we have enough interest to form a
caravan up north Sunday morning…
DIGITAL
CAMERA We
are looking at getting a digital camera for the club to use for
badge pictures. We would like to get a relatively cheap camera
that won’t drain the bank account. We have authorized Chuck
White to pick one up if he can get it for less than the
board’s discretionary amount of $200. MORE
CD’s AVAILABLE We
should have a bunch of new CD’s ready for everyone at the
meeting. Check the Librarian's column for more information.
The librarian will have an ample supply of the disks available.
Check out Jim's article about FREE virus protection and
Firewalls. See
you at the meeting … Mike |
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The Treasurer's
Report |
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The Secretary's Report |
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The president, Mike Taphorn, opened the meeting at 7 PM.
The first order of business was to welcome the new members and guests and explain the mission and functions of the computer club. He then followed to inform the membership about the upcoming computer show that will be held in Dec. of this year at the convention center in Collinsville. He further clarified the rules to use during the computer convention if any member wanted to access the show while being a member. Any member who would like to benefit from our status with the promoter must serve a couple of hours minimum at the table in any capacity possible in order to access the show. This rule will remain in place until
modified or until further notice. Mike asked Mr. Broda to explain the new club CDs and
their contents. Bill described the information of the new CDs. He
then informed us of the other CD in the library and passed around several binders with the library’s information of all our CDs. Our treasurer, Donald
Wold, informed the membership that the bank balance was $ 3539.68. J.C. informed us that the membership at the present time was 198 not counting about 15 new members
who joined during the computer show. This means that we passed the 200 mark for the first time. Mr. Leonard Hill requested volunteers to work and experience
the Linux operating system. He also invited members that anyone who needed photos for their ID to see him after the meeting. Carlos |
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The Membership
Chairman |
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| Number of Members in attendance last month: | 57 |
| Total Membership Before last month's meeting | 197 |
| Number of Members renewing last meeting | 5 |
| Number Of Members joined last meeting | 17 |
| GCC Members With Delinquent Dues in August | 4 |
| GCC Members With Dues Due in September | 11 |
| Current Total Membership | |
| Total Membership in Good Standing | 210 |
| Total Membership as of the end of August | 214 |
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The Web Master |
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Here is an inexpensive, stereoscopic technique for generating 3D displays from cellophane and a laptop computer screen. The technique takes advantage of two facts: 1 .Light from the liquid crystal display of a laptop computer is polarized light, and therefore we can easily manipulate its transmission with a polarizer sheet. 2. Plane old cellophane half-waveplate can change the direction of polarization of light. The direction of polarization of one half of the laptop screen was rotated by the cellophane half-waveplate. Two images displayed with orthogonal polarization on two halves of the screen become separable by wearing a pair of glasses of orthogonal polarization. For details click on the above link to the developer, author's web site. This site has a lengthy list of free "how-to" guides plus many
links to other sites offering free technical support. There are
also a list of links to the best Freeware Utilities. Microsoft Hides Information About Sites You Visit Microsoft IE explorer hides information about the websites you visit. Furthermore, when you clean your cache and history, this information is not deleted. A program from the above site scans these hidden files and and places the sites you visit in a file to protect your privacy.
OFFICE CONVERTERS AND VIEWERS. Last month we had several emails from members who wanted to share or view Excel Spreadsheets and Powerpoint presentations. Microsoft has a number of free programs that will let you view Microsoft Office files. With these converters you can share your files with people who either do not have MS Office or who have a different version of MS Office. Everyone should have a copy of these programs. Call it Self Defense against Microsoft's constant changing formats that all have the same name, but can not be read by other version of their own software.
Here is a link to a program that helps you to change a variety of desktop options, including randomizing your wallpaper, adjusting the size of icons, editing your Add/Remove Programs list, and removing the "Shortcut to" prefix on new shortcuts. You may encounter problems downloading this program. If so, we have included a copy on CD #44 Techo Wallpaper. You can get this CD from the librarian. Since this program will randomize your wall paper you may want to get it for just that purpose. It should work nicely with all of the club's wallpaper CD's.
Microsoft warned customers last Wednesday of serious new flaws that leave its flagship Windows software vulnerable to Internet attacks remarkably similar to the Blaster virus that infected hundreds of millions of computers last month.
The new flaws are almost identical to ones exploited by the Blaster
infection. However, the Blaster patch will not protect you from
this new problem. You must get and install the new patch from Microsoft. Here is a way to keep informed about problems with Microsoft software. Microsoft maintains a free e-mail notification service that will keep you informed of security issues relating to its products. The emails identify the security issue, the product affected, and information to correct it. This service covers all Microsoft products. Sign up at http:// register.microsoft.com/subscription/subscribeme.asp?ID=135.
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The Computer
Master |
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When trying to keep away the bad influences on your computer, you really need a three-pronged attack. Anti-Virus programs are just the beginning. You also need ad-ware or spyware destroyers and a firewall. The disk I put together brings all these products at your fingertips.
Time and time again, people are finding spyware programs are tracking their every movement. Unfortunately, to catch these programs, you actually need two programs. Ad-Aware and Spybot Search and Destroy are the perfect duo to stop these tattle-tales. One note, though, is that some downloadable programs actually load and DEPEND on spyware to run. Be careful what you
kill; it may stop your favorite game from running!
We saw many computers at the last show that were just loaded
with all kinds of spyware and other undesirable things. The
unofficial record was 250 items. After you know what is running
on your system, get the following two tools and clean out your system. You need
them both. Click on these links to download. Ad-Aware
will find some things and SpyBot
will find others.
Get CD 47 from the Librarian. All of the above programs are there.....You don't even need to download them. A very good investment for $1.00.
See you at the meeting. Enjoy.....JT |
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Mitch's Corner |
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SPECIALFEATURE: Here are some recent comments about MOZILLA: World Class: Best of 2003, Web Browser Editor's Choice Award: Best Web Browser, 2003 "Mozilla has
already become my default browser ... it is fast, slick, and
full-featured....." "Beyond Bliss" Although I would not take you to your drug dealer or buy you cigarettes, I realize that some of you old.....ahem, well.... lets just say some of you refuse to learn anything new..even if it's easier and better. So I'll throw that group of you a bone. ;-) You may have noticed that it is VERY tough to find a full download for IE6. You can use their custom installer if you wish (and if you trust them). But they screwed with this option in WinXP. So here is how you can download the whole program and burn it to a CD if you want to. Microsoft Knowledge Base article 257249. mentions a special command line for the setup program. Please note, though, that their own explanation of how and where to use the double-quotes is wrong Just do THIS: Creat a new folder on any drive called IE_Setup. Download the IE6Setup.exe file from here Internet Explorer and put it in the file you made, lets say you chose " C:\IE_Setup"/ as the folder. Once it is in your new folder, run the following command from within the Start / Run box: C:\IE_Setup\ie6setup
/c:"ie6wzd.exe /d:1
/s:""#E"""Just Copy and Paste this line so you don't mess up the quotes.( That’s the part Microsoft’s page is wrong about, suprise!) The download will be about 45 megs. These files all go into the folder you specify on the second screen of the download utility. By default, “C:\WINDOWS\Windows Update Setup Files” , but you can change that too. Good luck with this..... (Ya know, downloading and learning Mozilla would be easier!)
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Later,
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The
Librarian |
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Lots of interesting new CD's this month.
We have two more wallpaper CD.
In addition to these we will have some great demo CD's about Linux available. Two of these CD's are "Live Linux CD's". They will let you experience Linux right on you existing PC without having to install a single thing. Just put them in your CD ROM drive and boot. A complete operating Linux system, with a working graphical user interface will be loaded without hurting anything on your hard drive. The Linux install will even have a complete Office Suite of software available. You can write letters, make spreadsheets, edit photos, browse the web, and make CD's. The other CD is regular Linux install CD's, but this distribution requires only one disk. A normal Linux distribution consists of five CD's. This CD's has packed all of the important stuff on to just one CD. Put it into your CD ROM drive, and you will have Linux setup and working in about 90 minutes. You generally do not have to do anything. How long did it take you to build your Windows system and install all of that software? Because of the evolutionary nature of the Linux operating system, we do not plan to make these Linux CD's part of our library. |
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The Editor |
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Digital Photography Taken To a whole New Height Here an interesting site that will show you how to take things to a whole new height, 1500 feet to be exact. Plans and construction details are available. There are some great photos and video clips for you to see too.
Email, List Server, and Badge Practice Changes. I am no longer maintaining my membership database. JC Spelce, our Membership Chairman, maintains the official GCC database, and all membership information including the email address I use will come from him. My membership database is no more. I have created a new Badges database that is now linked to his database, and I can create a badge only if you are in the official database. Email: All email addresses will now come from JC's database. I will no longer keep a separate list. I will no longer send out postcards to members with incorrect email address. The correctness of your email address is your responsibility. If you are not getting email messages about meetings and announcements about the newsletter, you need to contact JC and make sure the information he has on file is correct. Each month I will create a new email listing from his database, and that is what I will use to send out all club announcements. I am no longer tracking bad email addresses. Note there were 33 bad email address this month. So a lot of you need to see JC and get this fixed List Server: I am no longer going to do anything with the List Server. My membership database allowed me to track who belonged to the list server and who did not want to be members of the List Server. That database no longer exists. I will no longer be providing HTC with the email address of new members. My Badges database does not contain email addresses. If you want to be a member of the List Server, read the section on the home page and submit your data to HTC. This should eliminate the problems we have with bad email addresses on the List Server. Badge Practices: Effective immediately, I will be making the following changes to the way I make and issue membership ID Badges.
When you write your name down so we can match it to your photo PLEASE use the name you put on your membership application. Nick names and initials make it hard to tell who is who. We have more than 30 people with the same last name in our database and most of them are not related.
Position Available. Looking for something to take up your spare time? How about becoming the GCC newsletter editor. I have decided that I am not going to run for re-election. My last newsletter will be December 2003. Since the Board has to propose a list of candidates for club officers in October, anyone who is interested in becoming the next newsletter editor should contact Mike and let him know as soon as possible. |
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Mac's World for September 2003 |
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SORRY, Dennis did not have time to put together an article for this month. I created one from some of his posts to the List Server. I even found one that ties into our Linux theme for this month. Want
a TiVo box for your TV view pleasure? TiVo, especially the Home Media Option, that turns your TiVo into a multimedia center. It lets you schedule and record TV programming at will, You can then play it back when you want. You can even pause the show, go back, and skip commercials. The downside is, TiVo costs money. However, there is a good alternative, and it is free. It's called Freevo. Its FREE, and it offers TiVo-like functionality. Take a look at all these features!
Learn or read more at the Freevo website. |
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Miscellaneous |
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GIMP....Linux great photo editor Gimp has most all of the editing features of programs such as Adobe Photoshop or Paintshop Pro. And many of these procedures work in the same manner in Gimp. In other cases, the functions have different names or are located at unfamiliar positions . This article covers a number of procedures that may be useful for editing photographs for web pages.
Linux set to break through in consumer electronics
Want more proof of Linux success.....Guess which company is installing 1000 Linux serves in their Headquarters'.......? Would you believe Microsoft. Maybe they got tired of their systems crashing all the time and getting infected with virus too.
The Linux Reports Last month I gave out 10 copies of various flavors of Linux. Two disks were "Live" Linux CD, and one was single disk install. Live Linux CD's run directly from your CD ROM drive and do not place anything on your hard drive unless you want them to. The volunteers agreed to try them and report back to me for this month's newsletter. We wanted to see how much trouble a regular user would have getting Linux installed, and how they liked it. Here are the results:
Linux Volunteer - Kenny R.'s Experience with Knoppix "Live" I thought Linux was an easy task once I figured out how to run it. However, I am still trying to run Red Hat. The interface for Knoppix I thought was a very more windows directed interface. To me I always thought that Linux would be only a command prompt much like the DOS one where you would have to know commands out the wazzooo. I found it rather easy to navigate around in it and see all the features it had in it. I quickly found out how to change wallpapers and to find some of the programs that were already on it.....the old arcade games were cool. There where a few other features such as the menu at the bottom of the screen and built in word processor. When compared to the MAC OS which is also based on Linux, Knoppix seemed more stable and smooth, but that might be because I only ran the demo.
Linux Volunteer - Ray W.'s Experience with Knoppix and SuSE "Live" I have been unable to get anything from the CD's you gave me. My machine will not boot from the CD drive.
Linux Volunteer - Bob H.'s
Experience with
full version of Red
Hat 9 Prior to running the installation of the software, the three distribution CD's were downloaded from the Red Hat site. This took a very long time for each CD, but there was no charge for the software. After downloading the files were burned to three CD's. The system used for installation was a Pentium 4, 2.4 Ghz processor, an ASUS P4S533 motherboard with 512Mb memory and a 60 Gb hard drive. This is an overkill, but the goal is to eventually make a dual boot machine with Windows XP and the Red Hat Linux on the same hard drive. The disk drive was new out of the box when the installation was started. The system booted normally from the first CD without a problem. One of the first windows was a selection of the type of installation to perform, with 4 choices. My first choice was a Server installation since I thought this might be interesting. Auto partitioning was selected, the boot loader default was selected and the time zone was set to US/Chicago. An appropriate root password was picked, and numerous packages were then selected, a total of 586 packages in all, which were supposed to take 2022 Mb of the hard drive. Installation was then started, and took 16 minutes and 15 seconds to complete. A boot diskette was created even though I wasn't sure if it would be necessary. As each CD was used, the system ejected and requested the next one. Upon finishing, the system did a reboot
and asked you to remove the CD and floppy from the machine. Here
we came upon the first problem, since after a long list of
install messages on a text only screen, a window appeared which
contained only two selections, YES and NO. There appeared to be
other text in the window but it was not visible. Hitting the
enter key gave a text screen showing that no monitor had been
detected. (I wonder what it was displaying on then?). After the
usual attempts to get this to clear, I decided that this install
had not worked properly for some reason, and ran the installation
again. On the second installation I did do the
media check, which takes a long time, but it PASSed all three
CD's. Then proceeded to install a second time, this time
selecting the Desktop installation instead (this is the smallest
of the 4 choices). This time I received a windows looking
graphics screen after the final reboot, and I thought I had done
everything correctly this time. However, after a reboot, the
system went back to the YES/NO mysterious window with no other
words. Again it could not detect the monitor for the graphics
session evidently. After conferring with my Linux guru (my son),
we tried several reconfiguration steps with no luck. Then we decided
to try the install again. Well the third time seemed to be the charm,
and we selected the Workstation install this time. I am using the
system to enter this data with the OpenOffice word processor, and
will send the report via email, if I can get it to work, from
this machine since I have configured it on my local network using
DHCP. Attaching the network printer was very easy and I am using
it to print this document. The system seems very responsive and even with the strange messages and configuration problems, it only took less than 20 minutes per install attempt, a lot quicker than a windows installation. The OpenOffice products are a lot like the Microsoft Windows Office programs, but they are free and do come with the installation ready to run. The windows look more like the Macintosh than Microsoft's windows. The built in browser is the Mozilla version and works like the same one on windows. We will see how long this takes to get used to and if we can get the dual boot system setup. Guess which major software company is installing Linux? I'll bet they got tired of all the software
bugs, crashes, viruses, and security holes too. It's perhaps the last place a Linux enthusiast would expect to find
this software -- the Redmond headquarters of Microsoft. Want More Linux? Here is a list of the local area Linux user groups and links to their websites. This first set of groups and sites are associated with SLUUG.
Here are other Linux groups in our area.
These groups are not associated with SLUUG.
Privacy Concern Here is some more information provided by Todd Earlier this year someone talked about finding your name and
address in Google by entering your telephone number. (This
was in a BITS & CHIPS article). Well, I found out this
morning about another site that also uses a reverse lookup: http://www.anywho.com/ and click
on the reverse lookup tab at the top. To get your name removed from this, you have to go to the bottom of the page,
select About AnyWho <http://www.anywho.com/help/about.html> , then select
privacy listing process <http://www.anywho.com/help/privacy_list.html> ,
enter your phone number and FINALLY call their phone number from the
phone you want de-listed! Talk about a long way to do things! If you want a
quicker way, just click on privacy listing process <http://www.anywho.com/help/privacy_list.html> and go from there.
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The Lighter
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Seems to fit this month's theme:
If
you have something you want to share, just send it to me
using the above mailbox
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