Jim did a demo on a voice speaking program
that he has owned for quite some time. It was interesting comparing the
demo given at our last WAUC meeting to Jim's program.
Richard Schmit did a demo on a macro he developed
to be used with the Appleworks program, setting it up as a new file to
clipboard. It fixes margins, page footers, printer option, etc.,
and can be brought in at the beginning of a new document. This appears
to be a real time saver.
Richard Reinhard did a demo on an income tax program.
Next month's meeting is scheduled for April 11th,
at the Day Care Center.
Pat Nye
Multi-Format SIG
Some members had been having trouble with ClipCache,
anothers not. Efforts to duplicate the problem and get it working again
were not 100% conclusive, but creating a "new" file and saving it may help.
Another question involved Azz Cardfile, a card file
type database program. It comes zipped (compressed) and has to be unzipped
to install (WINZIP is a popular program for unzipping). More in-formation
can be obtained at http:II www.grapevine2.comlunettlpals misc.htm on the
Internet.
The subject of file association also came up. Who
hasn't gotten an Email attachment that would not automatically open? The
"Open With" dialog box pops up, and we are often clueless as to what program
to click on. If you try to "Open With" the wrong program, it won't open,
and you can keep trying until you get it right. Some types of files will
open with the program that created them (if you do not have that program
installed, you are out of luck), others can be viewed or heard by a variety
of programs. The file extension (up to 3 characters following the .) is
a key to creating an association (figuring out which program to use to
try to open it). Some clues to the meaning of various file extensions can
be found on the "whois.com" Internet site. If the file extension indicates
a sound, you at least have narrowed your choice of programs to "Open With"
to programs that play sounds. If you know the file is a graphic, you would
select one of your graphics programs (ACDSee, Graphics Workshop for Windows,
Paint Shop Pro) or a DTP program (Print Shop, Print Artist).
You can also change your file association for a
file type, but this means that any file with that extension will be opened
with the new program. Go to "My Computer" and select the location of the
file. Hold down the Shift key and right click on the file, then choose
"Open With" from the pop-up menu. You can select a new program to open
it. Terry demonstrated this on an awesome pegasus.jpg she got from the
Internet, but did change the file association back.
The question of what DTP program is best to buy
came up. Print Artist Version 4 is the one many members of WAUC are familiar
with (and many techniques are demonstrated in the SIG using this version
of Print Artist), but it may be difficult to find, as it has been out for
a few years. I had gotten Print Artist 6 Diamond a few months ago, and
the afternoon before the SIG I finally had time to work with it. One thing
I discovered is that you can have more than one directory for each type
of graphic (so I did not have to move or copy all my .jpgs to the drive
partition containing Print Artist 6. It did take some time for the graphics
grabber to catalog them, but I browsed the manual in the meantime. Print
Artist 6 lets you keep version 4 on your hard drive, so you have it handy
to whip out a card, you don't have time to study the new version. The manual
says it will convert files created with version 4, but may not have. the
same graphics as the older version (you may have to install
the old graphics, or, as I did, have it look in more than one directory
for graphics, since I kept the old version). Some prefer Print Shop, Microsoft
Publisher (if you want to do newsletters, and other multi-page documents,
this is a workhorse), or PrintMaster Gold for a DTP program.
Terry brought a disk of .jpg craft templates she
had gotten on the Internet. These are for mini bird houses, May baskets,
and "garden bags" ( I thought these would be ornate holders for decks of
cards). Since each template is a .jpg graphic, you would not be able to
change the graphics used in the template unless you used a paint Program
of some sort. However, they are very lovely as is; the templates contain
beautiful graphics, and clearly show where to cut, fold, and punch (to
add a ribbon handle). If printing from Print Artist, you would open a blank
sign. At this point, you can either minimize Print Artist, view the graphics
in ACDSee (or another graphic viewing program), and copy the image, then
maximize the Print Artist document and paste it in. Another way to get
the .jpg into Print Artist (without minimizing and opening another program)
is to "Import" the graphic you A: drive. Once you have it on the sign,
hold down the Shift key while resizing it. If you maximize the graphic,
or otherwise resize it (without the Shift key), you may distort it. Terry
showed us all examples of ones she had printed and assembled; a nice added
touch is ultra-fine glitter (Terry used opalescent in the centers of pansies
on the May basket).
We also got to see some graphics of Doris's, which
may be on the next DOM. They were originally created on the Apple II GS.
She is going to try another conversion program to get more graphics into
gif or .jpg format.
Sandy had a card with a scan of her latest grandchild.
(She's a Grandma? Doesn't she know Grandmas are supposed to have gray or
white hair?).
I brought in some cards and my first experiment
with a different type of transparency. (very cheap, $2.50 at American Science
& Surplus for a box of 50 sheets) It was made for a particular type
of plotter (as opposed to dot matrix, inkjet, or laser printers). Since
it was not made for the inkjet, it did not print clear and dry, but it
wasn't as unprintable form the inkjet as laser transparencies. I had sprinkled
clear embossing powder on the wet image, and heated it to get the look
of rippled or bumpy glass.
Marcia told us how to make CD case labels. You get
2 to a Print Artist Sign. They are 4.5" X 5.7," and you need to rotate
the titles on both sides (sideways, with the bottoms of the letters towards
the central graphic.) You have to literally take apart the case to put
the labels in, but it sure makes it easier for her to find stuff. She also
mentioned taking lessons on a Paint Shop Pro Tutorial site (Paint Shop
Pro is a graphics program. They give you 2 lessons a week, and you submit
them to a group. She says it's much easier to learn that way than from
the manual.
We continued with the Print Artist Video. We got
through the parts on Iron-On Transfers (quite a lot of ironing before you
even get to the iron on part), and canned gifts. Both E-6000 and Bond 527
glues were mentioned for gluing lids back on the cans, but from personal
experience, I've found the E-6000 had fumes that lasted a long time (even
after the glued item was supposed to be dry). We plan to continue with
this video next month.
Comdex passengers, make sure you have pre-registered
with Comdex for your free $100 exhibit pass!
Christine Gardner
PC SIG
The PC SIG met on March 1, 2000 at Corn. Technologies.
Doris Regner demonstrated a Mustek scanner as Terry Harvey answered questions
and gave added explanation to the demonstration, followed by a question
and answer session. Doris scanned pictures and text with scanner software,
edited the pictures, and saved the finished products. She then opened Print
Artist and Text Bridge programs to work with, and print the scanned images
and text. A short discussion on ~mail etiquette ensued within the demonstration.
Questions and Answers:
Carol Zarnik asked Marie Bellin about setting calendar
dimensions with the Calendar Creator Program. A difference in versions
of this program made giving a specific answer difficult. Marie, using Carol's
disc, attempted to work through the problem during the meeting.
Spencer Daniel asked about wrap around problems
when getting email with Internet Explorer. Doris suggested that he go to
Preferences, then Edit, and then reset the margins.
Advanced suggestions to working with the scanner:
Print your project on regular paper until you get
the look you want for your finished product. Try to fill the photo sheet
of paper either by cropping pictures to fit more than one on a single sheet
or by enlarging the picture to fit the sheet. Doris recommended having
a lot of RAM when working with scanning and pictures - at least 64 MB needed
and 128 MB were recommended. Doris reported she saved her graphics and
pictures to floppy discs so as not to take up hard drive room. She used
the Save As command and directed the save to the A drive with a .bmp, jpg
or other format.
Working with the scanner and scanner's copy program:
The first step was to prescan the picture. Doris
then cropped the prescanned picture to remove all dark, empty space around
the picture. She moved the dotted lines over the picture to select what
part of the picture she would finally scan. This eliminated the black borders
and the final scan used less memory. Doris then selected scan and only
the area within the dotted lines was scanned. Doris then demonstrated using
the tool bar selections. Adjust command offered Edit (rotate/flip and rotate/freely),
Crop (re-size and cut off), Focus (blur and sharpen), Lighting (brightness),
Color, Red Eye and Resize choices. Enhance command guided you through writing
on your picture, changing fonts, texts, and color of print. Effects command
offered Embossed, Mosaic, Ripple, etc. choices. At this time she suggested
saving the image and then continued working. Doris demonstrated using simple
shapes to "touch-up" areas of the picture using color and texture from
similar areas of the picture. Marie offered another technique to accomplish
this task. Terry said she used the Paint and then Clone commands to touch-up
the picture. Doris then cropped the faces using a circle and then demonstrated
how to use this image as a separate picture. The picture was then saved
as a BMP file. Terry emphasized that a picture is saved as a BMP file while
changes are being made to it. Once all changes are made, then save as a
JPG file as this uses less memory.
Transferring to Print Artist and Text Bridge programs:
Doris demonstrated importing the saved pictures
into Print Artist. She then used the card setting to set up four pictures
on one page of photo paper. She used dragging the corners of the pictures
to size them to fit.
Using Microsoft Word and the Text Bridge program,
Doris scanned a typed document. It is noted that the Text Bridge program
was installed with an automatic "Bridge" to the Word program (you have
many choices of programs). Doris entered the Text Bridge program from the
"Word" File and then Text Bridge command. Doris used the "Line Art and
300 resolution choices. The document in the scanner is then reproduced
into a Word document. Proof reading and changes to the document could then
be made. Spelling and character errors are common as the quality and unrecognized
symbols of the scanned document might result in spelling errors.
E-mail Etiquette:
In discussing character recognition with the Text
Bridge program, Terry reviewed basic e-mail etiquette. She suggested using
the "Clipcache" program, on the February Disk of the Month, to clean up
any messages you might be forwarding on to friends. Removing the >>> characters
and reformatting the document to full lines. She also suggested another
way to clean-up e-mail pages would be to Copy them and Paste them into
"Word" or another word processing program. Then using the Edit Replace
command, and the Page Formatting options, you can shorten the amount of
space needed to send the new message and make it more readable.
Another suggestion was to eliminate listing all
the people you are sending the same message to on top by sending the message
to yourself and blind carbon copy (bcc) the list of names so they would
be hidden from view in the message.
Thanks Doris and Terry. We all returned home with
our heads spinning with new information. I feel that your program reinforced
the little I already knew and added oh-so-many more ideas on how to work
with pictures and text! Now that we have all this knowledge, be prepared
for even more questions next month after we have had a chance to try it
out on our computers and scanners. Thanks Again!
Joan Glyrewski
Welcome - New Members
Anthony Schmitt
June Larson
Minutes of General Meeting
President Bruce Kosbab opened the March 2, 2000, WAUC
general meeting by welcoming seventy-four members and three guests.
Treasurer's Report: Treasurer Jackie Tamsett reported
a beginning balance of $4988.50; income of $2813.22; expenses of $460.64;
ending balance of leaving an $4341.08.
Problems/Questions: Paul Jurkowski asked how to
get Add New Hard-ware to work with an internal modem in Windows Second
Edition. Dennis Wilson said he had success by uninstalling Second Edition
and going back to the first version and the modem worked. Peter Lee had
no problem installing a modem using Windows Second Edition.
Peter notices that his computer clock does not slow
down, but sets itself back an hour or so periodically. No one could explain
the problem.
Bob Horvath reminded people who use ExecPC, which
has the new 262 area code, to change their prefix to connect to ExecPC.
Joan Glyzewski wanted a clarification on the topic
of ~mail netiquette about sending blind carbon copies that was discussed
at the PC SIG on Wednesday. Terry explained the procedure to Joan, who
was writing the PC SIG minutes, so you can read it in her report. Peter
likes to see the names of all recipients.
Bruce recommended coming to the Telecom SIG to
get more information on e-mail.
Dick Moriarity had a question about entering cash
transactions in Quicken 99. This secretary said he needed to create another
account in his account list and name it currency or cash and enter those
transactions. Quicken will give a report of all those transactions just
like the other accounts.
Buy/Sell: Paul has a $300 Sprint modem he's willing
to sell for any reasonable offer. Bob Tipple had some software he was contributing
to WAUC that he acquired from a friend who had excess software.
New SIG Locations: Bruce told us that we no longer
would be able to use Naspa or Netkey for our SIG meetings. Our groups were
too large for Naspa to accommodate, and Mike Klesges of Netkey is starting
on a new venture and would not be available to host the group. We are considering
Super America on 60th and Layton. There was discussion about UWM, which
has state-of the Art facilities; however parking on week nights would be
a problem, but not on Sunday afternoons. Members were urged to look into
any possibility that might lend itself to our meetings and report back
to any board member.
Color Projector: Bruce said the board is seeking
the approval of the membership to purchase a color projector like the one
that was used at the previous month's meeting. Tony Magho made a motion
that the board purchase a projector; Bob Balderson seconded the motion.
A Sony representative was in attendance to answer questions that were raised
as to performance: 600 lumens, 4x zoom, comes with a carrying case, $300
for a replacement bulb which has an expected 2000-hour life, 3-year parts
and labor warranty, exclusive of bulb. The motion carried.
Comdex: Be sure to send your money for the bus to
Leo Hoffer by April ~ 8th There are a few seats still available.
Super Computer Show: State Fair Park March 24 -
26. If you want to meet beforehand for breakfast, email Terry, terry-harvey@bigfoot.
com, and she will make arrangements.
APCUG CDs: Bruce ordered
20 CDs offered by APCUG (Association of Personal Computer User Groups)
an organization WAUC is affiliated with. The disk contains top down-loads
and shareware.
Sam's Club: Chris Gardner
is taking applications for any available slots in membership. Current members
have first choice to renew; others can apply if former members di~ continue.
Bob Horvath said that since we have a business membership, we could enter
an hour before the general public.
Sick List: Rich Coplan
is in intensive care at St. Luke's after suffering a diabetic seizure.
Ralph Ramlow, husband of former member and "Cookie Lady" Evelyn, is having
open-heart surgery. Chris had a card for us to sign.
Internet Training: Whitnall
Middle School offers free sessions on a number of dates during March. Betty
Tarnowski had a brochure with information.
Computer Show: Leo
Hoffer would like someone to assist in manning the WAUC table on March
19, anytime between 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.
m.
SIG Minutes: Terry
implored people to volunteer to take SIG minutes instead of having to beg
at each SIG. Putting together each SIG takes considerable organization
and everyone enjoys reading Marie's publications of WAUCtaIk. We need people
to write the minutes. It's an excellent way to solidify the information
that was learned at the SIG.
Disk of the Month: The
PC Disk of the Month contained MemTurbo to boost your system's performance,
File Splitter used to split large files into pieces so they can be moved
onto floppy disks between systems. X Figure is a program that constructs
"cross-figure" puzzles using numbers, Wingo is similar to Bingo and Intelligent
Word Pad interprets your and displays tend to type.
Program for Review: Leo
had the program Stuffit Deluxe, a compression program for the Mac.
Raffle: Bob Banarian
had the program Home Publishing that he was selling tickets for.
DEMONSTRATION
Peter Lee was our presenter for the evening. Peter
apologized for not demonstrating voice recognition as was announced, but
promised to it at another time.
Peter teaches English as a second language at UWM
and told us of his fascination with speech and how computers attempt to
recognize and integrate people's voices.
Before we can understand voice recognition, we need
to be aware of the vast variables the computer has to overcome in order
to do this: accents, speech patterns, expressions, tonality, etc. Computers
aren't able to talk back to us, but Peter illustrated how the telephone
company gets computer generated information to its customers by having
an operator record each number and then numbers are played back individually
when a customer requests information.
Peter centered his presentation on educational software
he reviewed called Kurtzweil 3000, that reads documents loaded into it.
At this point, Peter digressed to tell us about
his screen saver. Prior to his demo, I seemed to be moving his mouse that
was set up for the program, disengaging his screen saver. I didn't understand
why he was so concerned, but now I understand why. The screen
saver is a program, SETI@home, a scientific experiment that uses Internet-connected
computers in the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI). You can
participate by running a free program that downloads and analyzes radio
telescope data. By downloading the program, instead of having useless toasters
and fish on one 5 screen, the computer user would be receiving data, and
when the data was finished it would be uploaded to the observatory to be
analyzed. Read more about this unique program by going to the website:
Sitiathome.berkeley.edu.
Back to the demo, Peter called our attention to
the large text and icons, making this program more suitable to the vision
impaired. He could also see the advantages of using it as a proofreader.
There are various settings to select voice types (male or female) pitch,
speed, volume, etc. He then loaded text and experimented with many variables
in the available choices. We listened to the robotic-sounding delivery,
some seemed funny to our ears, but were amazed by the advances made in
recognizing the myriads of sounds and expressions contained in our language.
Peter held all of our interest with his well-prepared,
insightful presentation. I know everyone will be eagerly anticipating the
sequel, voice recognition, when Peter will be scheduled to give It. Thank
you, Peter. We are grateful for the time and preparation involved with
this demonstration.
Marcia Zientek, Co-Secretary
February 2000 Treasurer’s
Report
BEGINNING BALANCE
$7341.08
INCOME
Membership Dues
425.00
Sales -
PC DOM
70.00
Stationary
10.15
Raffle
29.00
Apple Sales
80.00
TOTAL INCOME
$614.15
EXPENSES
Marcia Zientek Postage
66.00
Marie Bellin Printing
66.00
Doris Regner P.O. Box
22.00
Jackson Park Luth. Ch.
Donation for Hall
250.00
APCUG 1st Edition CD
33.00
TOTAL EXPENSES
$437.00
ENDING BALANCE
$7518.23
Telecom SIG
The Telecom SIG will be held April 20th at the French
Immersion School, 3575 South 88th St (88th & Morgan). Meeting starts
at 7:00pm. Enter at doorway on Warnimount Ave. A sign wilt be posted. Park
on Warnimount Ave. The meeting will be in the library room of the school.
PC Disk of the Month
The PC Disk of the Month for April will include Easter
Graphics and Mothers Day.
