NVMUG eNews 11/20/2004
Last updated 11/24/2004
Printing Booklets in OS X, iBooks in Schools, and Using Older Macs
This was the third show and tell, question and answer meeting in a row. There may be no end to information to be shared and the needs to share it. I brought a little shareware program that I have been using. Geof talked about experiences in schools using iBooks. And, the meeting opened with questions about using older iMacs with OS 9 and networking with Macs with OS X.
1. The Meeting As Reported in the Caledonian-Record
Mac Users Discuss Printing booklets, iBook Experiences
Hartley Jackson, left, shows a CocoaBooklet program as Leigh Hurley and Geof Gonter watch at the Northern Vemnont Macintosh User Gropup meeting in St. Johnsbury Saturday
Members learned about a printing booklets, school experiences with iBooks, and answers to their questions at the Northern Vermont Macintosh User Group meeting Saturday at the Old Mill Club in St. Johnsbury.
Hartley Jackson said when you print a Web page, it usually does not look good because the type is too large. There is a little Macintosh OS X program, CocoaBooklet, that fixes that by printing the page in the form of a half-page size booklet. CocoaBooklet can print any Web page, PDF document, rich text document, AppleWorks document, or just about anything as a booklet.
Once the program is installed, you open any document or Web page that you want to print, and go to the File menu and select Print. In the print dialog that appears, select CocoaBooklet, and enter where you want the document to go, such as on the Desktop. The document will be saved in a form that will print as a booklet when you select and print it.
Downloading the program is free from a Web site in France,
http://www.iConus.chfabien/english/CocoaBooklet.html
Jackson said that if you like and use the program. you can send a donation. When he tried to send a donation, the Pay Pal page was in German. He managed to get a page in English, he did not know how he did it, and was asked to enter the donation in euros. He was surprised to find that a dollar is not worth as much as a euro. Four euros was equal to $5.36.
Geof Gonter said he was amazed at the things kids are doing with their iBooks in Glover and Irasburg, and the thoughtfulness with which they use them. He said even one kid with lots of behavioral problems treats it well.
The children all have signed agreements about using the iBooks, but some have gone beyond the boundaries. The computers are tools, so they are not taken away when there is a discipline problem any more than they would take away pencil and paper. But sometimes the students may not be allowed to take their iBook home for a period of time.
One of the rules is that the students not clear the history on their browser, so that the teachers can see every Web page the student looked at. If they do clear the browser, they may lose the use of the browser on their computer and then can only connect to the Internet for their school work using a supervised school computer.
Students compose their writing in Word, and teachers attach sticky notes instead of marking the work on paper. One father did not want his child to bring the iBook home until he was asked what he would think if the school came and took his skidder. When he said he would not be able to get any work done, he was told your child is a student and that computer is a tool just like your skidder The student now takes his iBook home.
One school sets aside five minutes every hour to send and receive e-mail, but most schools do not allow instant communications or general e-mail because of the potential for inappropriate material. Some schools are setting up local accounts so that students can send and receive e-mail only within the local area network which can be monitored.
Macs are easier and cheaper to maintain than Windows machines. The almost weakly Microsoft security updates are just one example. Another is that a new Macintosh computer comes with all the current drivers for printers and other equipment already installed where you have to search for drivers for whatever equipment may be attached to a PC.
Some youngsters who have PCs at home for playing games would prefer to use a PC at school instead of the learning a different operating system.
Warren Walker said that some students who are good at games decide they should become programmers to create games. But, what it takes to program games is an understanding of math and a good sense of thought.
Good reflexes are not an issue.
Most of the questions discussed concerned continuing to work with Mac OS 9 because of some program or piece of equipment and networking with a new Mac with OS X. Stephen Farber, who is an expert in making older Macintosh equipment work, questioned why people spend so many hours just to keep some older equipment working. Wouldn't it be more cost effective just to invest in updating?
2. More News About The Meeting
The meeting opened with a question from Leigh Hurley. Too much information was exchanged for me to get it all. In fact, I honestly did not understand it all. But, here is what I think I heard.
Leigh Hurley is using two iMacs that are connected with a crossover cable, one running OS 9.0 and one running OS 9.2. She has stayed with OS 9 versions because of a special printer. The upgraded OS 9.2 does not work with the printer, but since the two computers are connected, she can print through the one with OS 9.0. She is worried about moving to OS X because she wants to continue to use that special Epson printer.
She would like to upgrade to Max OS X because there is an Adobe CS bundle that will meet her needs for less money than buying Quark. She asked Mac Connection if she could upgrade to Photoshop CS from Photoshop 5.5 and was told No.
She then called Adobe and was told she could upgrade from any Photoshop model. Obviously, it sometimes is a good idea to deal directly with Adobe.
Warren said that Mac Connection has the upgrade to Panther for $110, but it also has the upgrade to Panther bundled with iLife for $109!
One recommendation for Leigh was to keep checking with Epson for an upgrade for her printer driver to Mac OS X. She may be able to register to be notified of any upgrade. A second was that she should be able to connect the iMac with OS X so that she could continue to print through the iMac with OS 9.0. Stephen said there should be an option to print through the network, and there should be some fix so OS 9.2 would work. with the printer.
Ran Lay-Sleeper asked if everyone was aware of Command-Tab to see all the running applications and tab through them. It is a lot like Expos.
The first time you set up a new system you are asked all those questions, and the fear of making a mistake scares people. Stephen said most of the things can be changed later. Just be sure you spell your name correctly, and your short name. For the short name use something short like Bill, not William. And the most important thing about your password is that it should be something you will remember.
The password is changeable under Accounts in System Preferences. What you use should be related to how important it is to keep your computer secure, and how important it is to make it easy for you to remember and use.
Ron Lay-Sleeper had a question involving a wireless router from Casco, a modem, and a Del computer. He said something about NetGear and a black hole. I did not understand all that, but I did understand Geof Gonter's suggestion. He said to enter the file and message from the dialog window into Google, and see what pops up. (I knew I was not going to understand much of this when I heard the two words, router and Del.)
There was another question about a monitor overheating when you change the resolution. It was decided that changing the refresh rate might cause overheating, but changing the resolution couldn't. What refresh rate is right for you depends upon when your eyes are bothered by flicker. You need a refresh rate fast enough so that you do not get headaches.
There was a discussion about when you should upgrade. Geof said that a school has lots of 15" eMacs that are doing the job with absolutely no reason to upgrade. On the other hand if you are working on developing professional video graphics you probably need to upgrade to the biggest, fastest, and best.
That's when Stephen asked when do you t do the whole thing. Stephen said something like, "It might make sense to set an upgrade schedule and maybe trade in your computer every 18 months, rather than be tinkerers like me." If you have an old burner, for example, getting it to work with a new system may take forever. It is not an issue if you have the spare time, but otherwise maybe you should buy a new machine.
I believe it was Geof who said, people stick to their dial up modems because it only costs $9.95 or $19 a month and complain because it is so slow, when for maybe $40 a month they could have a broadband connection.
Geof likes the Belkin wireless USB connectors for $18 that connect to your USB port rather than an internal drive. He says they have a greater range. The titanium PowerBooks have a more limited range than the aluminum PowerBooks, but the iBooks have the greatest range because of their plastic cases. Geof says Belkin products are head and tails above NetGear, and CISCO routers do not work with Macs very well.
Stephen Farber described what is in the fourth quarter Apple mailbox, including sales information for Motion, iPod and iPod mini.
Warren said some schools actually bought keyboards for use with Macs and GarageBand. Daniel Hollister, a new member, said he has a 99 key keyboard, and recently bought the 39 key keyboard when he was at Small Dog.
3. Further Discussion and Personal Comments
I received an e-mail from Bill Amos which inspired me to add this.
I now have three great Photoshop CS books. Have read Digital Photography Expert Techniques twice, and have read and done all of the Exercises in Adobe Photoshop CS One-On-One and The Photoshop CS Book For Digital Photographers. I am enjoying these books, and am just beginning to learn what is in them
We all have the debate about when, if ever, we should upgrade. Before moving to Vermont 12 years ago, I bought an Apple IIGS as my retirement computer. Now I have a three year old iBook that is already obsolete, but I probably could not learn to do much with GarageBand anyway. It bothers me a bit that my iBook does not have enough hard disk space to fit all my iTunes on it with my other stuff. I am just going to have to get a quieter external hard drive.
I also have a 2 meg Nikon Coolpix 775 camera. It could be smaller to fit more easily in a pocket. It could be more weather proof. Or it could be like the Nikon 8800 a friend bought with just about everything I could dream of, but would not fit in my pocket or what I want to pay.
For now, both the camera and the iBook are capable of so much more than I can do, and I can't decide what I should upgrade to if I had the money - so I am satisfied.
Bill Amos wrote:
I don't get into photo manipulation as much as would be fun. I simply shoot with care, setting the camera the way I think best from experience, then accept or trash the result. This comes from days working for National Geographic--shooting endless pictures, always with the sense any one of them might be the best possible. With digital photography it's nice to have the backup resource of being able to adjust and correct, although so far this has not been necessary very often. I do use the instantaneous trash, however!
Equipment is a highly modified Coolpix 5700 with a bunch of accessory lenses and all kinds of hardware--a real Rube Goldberg setup, but versatile. Nikon Inc. would shudder at how I use their machine. In spring I might demonstrate some tricks for the group, although I'm not sure many would be interested in such highly specialized techniques.
I read your recent column with interest, wishing I had been there to hear much of it, also to mildly debate Steven Farber's point of not keeping older equipment working, but upgrading instead. A good point and understandable for most users, but not me. My setup (desktop G4, OS 9.2) is as far as I can go with the software I depend upon--MS Word 5.1a, the biggest American Heritage dictionary (now discontinued, with no decent substitute available--the Oxford English Dictionary is an authoritative last resort, but so darned cumbersome I don't use it much), Encyc. Britannica, also a marvelous long-extinct thesaurus (off the market in 1992 after only one year), and much more, none of it workable in OS X et seq. That means thousands of pages of current and past manuscript on various hard drives and CDs would be unreadable, or each would require translation. The newer and newest versions of MS Word are ridiculous, in my opinion, for an author--although no doubt great for a publisher or an office with a wide spectrum of requirements.
Anyway, I continue to feel there is an excellent case for some Mac users to maintain the status quo as long as it fills their needs. Someday I'd like to speak to this point, probably persuading no one! For me, everything works like a charm, every possible accessory is ready and waiting, three large monitors display all work at hand. I'm far from reaching the limits of system and chosen software, so am happy as a clam. If I'm increasingly left behind, it's my choice. I'm certain there are others of like mind, but we don't have a forum. Maybe someday?
Now that I have given Bill his forum, I believe Stephen's point was simply that there is a point when upgrading makes more sense than struggling and spending a lot of time to use older equipment. He suggests that many people probably should, and do, plan and schedule regular updates to keep their hardware and software current for more efficient use. Of course if everyone did that, Stephen would not as much in demand for helping to keep the old stuff working.
And, noting that Bill Amos has upgraded his Nikon Coolpix to a 5700 since he made his well received presentation ot NVMUG, I am sure that Bill would agree that it makes sense to look at when to upgrade with an open mind, as objectively as possible, and not hang onto the old beyond where it really makes sense to do so.
Let's hope that this is the most serious question we have to deal with, and that Bill can join us this next year and tell us how he takes those pictures of the miniature world around us.
