ANNUAL HOLIDAY PARTY

Software Library News

NOVEMBER PRESENTATION

Paper, Paper, Paper

Money Matters

INTERNET TALK

 

 

 

ANNOUNCEMENT

By Virginia Pfiffner

 

 

 

 

 

ANNUAL HOLIDAY PARTY

This year we will have the GS-BUG Annual Holiday Party and Silent Auction of computer hardware and software donations from members.  It will be held at the Scout Building on Plaza del Amo in Torrance (same place as last year) on Wednesday, December 13, 2000, at 6:00 p.m.

 

In the past this has always been a fund and active meeting--a chance to socialize with members, to find an inexpensive piece of software or hardware that suits your fancy, and to enjoy some Holiday gastronomical goodies.

 

Virginia Pfiffner, Dixie Rasmussen, Joyce Oliver and Emmett Ingram are spearheading the activity and would like you to help make this meeting a festive occasion.  

 

REMEMBER to plan for the Party on the Second Wednesday of December.  More details in next month's newsletter.

 

 

 

Software Library News

By Bob Hudak

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A New Library Addition

The long awaited CD ROM from APCUG is here. This is a great collection of 210 programs and files. At the bargain price of $5.00 none of us can afford not to own one. Also they are great for gifts, Christmas is coming.

 

A complete list of all of the files is included within, starting on page 9.

 

 

Index of all programs/items on this CD

20/20 2.2.1	A1-VisualContact1.45	Accelerate2000-1.0	ACDSee-3.0
AceTalkingJokes	AcrobatReader4.05	ActionOutlineLight-1.6	Add/RemovePro
AladdinExpander-5.0	AntiviralToolkitPRO-DAT3.0.129	AntiviralToolkitPROv131	AnvilStudio-2000.05
AOL-InstantMessenger-4.0	Arachnophilia4.0	Arasan	Arjfolder3.10b
ArtPlusEasyNoter 2.5	Audiograbber1.62	Babylon Lite	BKReplaceEm
Bulletproof-FTP-1.21	BZFlag1.7d-Build-9	CacheMan 3.8	Cdex 1.3 beta
Cdex Manual	CDPlayerMaximus3.4	CgEdit	ChampionLauncher
ClassicClipboard-1.20x	ClipboardMagic-2.2	ClipMate5.1.11	CobBell
CobBiorhythm	CobCards.dll	CobCase	CobFixIt
CobIcon 2.0	CobIP	CobJacks	CobPad
Cobpad Plus	CobPaint	CobShell Plus	CoffeeCupDirectFTP-4.0
CoffeeCupFreeFTP-1.0	ColorPicker-1.7	Copernic2000-4.5	CRT-3.1-Beta2
DeskSweeper2.0	DesktopArchitect v2.0 Beta 5	DJ 2000-1.20	DomiNOTE
DownloadAcceleratorPlus-3.9.0.8	EasyCleaner	Edit Pad-3.5.1	E-Icons 3.07
EudoraLight-4.3	EudoraPro-4.3.0	FaxLink-1.5	Fdaemon 3.3
FirehandEmberUltra	FirehandLightningII	FmEdit98	FreeAgent-1.21
FreeView 1.1	FreeZip 1.4.8	F-SecureAntiVirus4.07	F-SecureAntiVirusDAT
FTP-Commander2.1	FTPServ-U2.5e	FullMotionVideo3.0-Beta	GetSmat0.9-Build-12
GifMovieGear2.63	Glpro 8 Trial	Gooey 2.1	GraphicWorkshop2.0a
GravityBoxWorldView	Here 1.1	ICQ Plus 2.04	ICQ2000Beta-v4.31
ICQforNetmeeting	ICUII-3.10	IDcidePrivacyCompanion	ImageForge2.7FreeWare
ImageForgePro2.8	InformationManagerv1.0.2	Install ZIP 1.4	InternetExplorer5-5.01
InternetPhone5.01beta	IrfanView32-3.21	ISpeed-2.7.3	JavaRuntimeEnviroment1.2.2-001
JS Time	JS TimeSync	JS Wallpaper	JS-Pager-Virtual-Desktop
LabelCreator2000	LabelCreator3000	MagellanExplorer v2.2Adware	MagellanExplorer2.2Shareware
maplay 1.a	McAfee DAT- 4080	McAfeeViruscan-4.0.3	Media Wizard-4.55
Melb PC's Internet Service	Memory-Trax	MessageASAP-3.1.8	MicrosoftDirectX-7.0
MicrosoftNetMeeting3.01	MIRC-5.71	ModemBoosterv2.0	ModemMonitorGraph3.3
Morfit3DWorldBuilderIII-3.6	MortgageWizardPlusV6.0	Movies11Lite	Mp3CDMaker-1.21
MPActionRip'n'Coder-1.2	MusicMatchJukebox-5.10.0118	MyCorkboard	NeoTrace2.12a
Netcaptor-6.02Beta3	NetPad SE	NetscapeCommunicator4.73	NetscapeNavigator4.08
NortonAntivirus2000-6.0	NortonAntivirusDAT-0526i32	NoteTab Pro	NoteTabLightv4.82
Nutrition Facts	Opera-4.0 Beta3	OutlookExpress 5.01	Pad 2.5
Pad 2.7	PaintShopPro-6.02	PandaAntivirusPlatinum-6.16.00	PC DJ Phat
Pegasus-3.12c	PIRCH98-1.0.1.1190	PKZIPforWindows2.70	Primus
PrintFolder1.1a	PrintFolderPro	Print-this-now4.0	Proxomitron
Proxomitron-w/oInstaller	Quick Heal 5.24	QuicktimePlayer 4.1.2	RamBoosterV1.6
ReadPlease2000	REBOL-2.2.0.3.1	RedBox-Organizer-v3.1	RGBtoHEX1.1a
SambarServer-4.1 beta 1	Satori-PhotoXL	Secure 2.0	SetFileDate1.0
SimpleLookup-2.1	Slideshow-graphics	Sonique 1.51	Spectrogram5.1.6
StartMenuTweaker	StayConnected!v2.5	Super Cat	SurfSaver
TeleportPro-1.29	TexRep 1.1	TheFreeBible1.3.0	TotalRecorder-2.2
Tweak-All1.2.3	TxE-8-Beta4	UleadGIFAnimatorLE-4.0	UleadPhotoExplorer6.0
Ultimate Paint 2.46	UltraEdit-32	ViewerforExcel97/2000	ViewerforWord97/2000
VisualBasicRuntimeLibrary3.0	VisualBasicRuntimeLibrary4.0	VisualBasicRuntimeLibrary5.0	VisualCalendarPlannerv4.5
VisualDayPlanner-v7.0	Vocabulario	"VocabularyFrench	"VocabularyGerman
"VocabularyItalian	"VocabularySpanish	WAR-FTPDaemon 1.70 beta 1	WinAce 1.31
WinAmp 2.64	WindowsAdministrator 3.b+	WinEbookCompiler	WinEbookViewer
WinGate-3.0.5	WinRAR2.70beta2	WinRescue2000	WinRescue95v9.18
WinRescue98v4.18	WinRescueNT	WinRoutePro-4.1	Winzip 8.0
WinzipSelfExtractor2.2	WS-FTP LE 5.06	WS-FTP Pro 6.05	X-DesktopV1.4
Xnview-1.14	XpertWoRDv3.20	Xteq-X-Setup	XteqX-SetupRead-me
YankeeClipperPlus-1.91	ZipCentral-2.06

 

 

 

 

 

 

NOVEMBER PRESENTATION

By John Sellers

 

 

 

 

 

PhotoSpin is scheduled to give us a presentation which shall demonstrate their products. Duane Pearson of PhotoSpin has given permission to us for the reprinting of a press release from their web site which describes their products and company which is shown below.

 

PhotoSpin Launches New Subscription Service

 

New business model

 

Royalty-free content for business professionals

 

Award-winning photographs, illustrations, video clips, audio files, fonts

 

Palos Verdes, Calif., (Aug. 28, 2000 ) - PhotoSpin Inc, a leading developer of digital art, aims to provide a missing service for what Deutsche Banc Alex. Brown estimates is a $1.6 billion industry (as quoted in the Industry Standard, "US Eyes Bill Gates' Photo Collection," July 28 2000.)

 

PhotoSpin announced today that they are launching a subscription service that allows designers, graphic artists, advertisers and other business professionals to pay once, and then have a full year's access to the new PhotoSpin library. The new library is stocked with award-winning photographs, illustrations, audio files, video clips, and fonts for print, multimedia, and video projects.  The subscription service is available in two tiers: The $99 tier provides access to web and low resolution images, as well as some fonts, audio files, and video clips. The $199 tier gives customers a key to the full PhotoSpin collection, including high-resolution, print-ready images and illustrations, and the complete library of video clips, audio files, fonts and more.  There is also a free tier that gives interested customers limited access to the PhotoSpin collection.

 

"There is a huge need for this kind of service," says Val Gelineau, the CEO and co-founder of PhotoSpin. "No one else is providing an open-ended 12-month ticket to an entire library of high-quality images targeted towards professionals."

 

Businesses need royalty-free images and multimedia to create advertisements, videos, brochures, and web sites. Usually, this means hiring an in-house photographer or creative team, or it involves purchasing the rights for a few select images. But with PhotoSpin's new service, businesses can pay a one-time subscription fee, and then have the ability to use anything in the PhotoSpin collection for up to one year.

 

PhotoSpin is also adding new content to their already large collection.

 

"Our goal is to add a thousand new files every 30 days," says Gelineau.

 

"Most of our competition sells single images, or at most a collection of around 100 images, for more than the price of our subscription. With PhotoSpin, you pay one low fee, and then get continuous access to tens of thousands of images and all the content on the web site. Because we are going to be adding new content every month, our library will never get old or stale."

 

About PhotoSpin

PhotoSpin, Inc. is the first content subscription site for business professionals. The PhotoSpin collection includes award-winning photographs, illustrations, video clips, sound files, fonts, and more. PhotoSpin's OEM clients include MetaCreations, Live Picture, Microsoft, Encad, Artville, Ulead, WebUtilities.com, Altamira Group, Scream Design, Andyart.com, PixoArts, KGA and ScanSoft. For more information about PhotoSpin, or their collection of images or individual products, visit  www.photospin.com  or call

(888) 246-1313.

Media Contact:

Stephanie Robey

(310) 265-1313 ext. 12

mailto:stepher@photospin.com

 

 

Paper, Paper, Paper

Don Baker’s engineering background truly makes him a color printer’s friend

Features:Getting The Ultimate Quality Image From Your Color InkJet Printer   

 

Navigation:  20 Most Recent Documents </20new.html>  Search Archives </search.html> 

Index by date </rg/scougtd.html>, title </rg/scougtta.html>, author </author/index.html>, category </rg/scougtc1.html>. LONG BEACH — 

 

I’ve been searching for the color printer answer for two years. Every person with whom I’ve ever discussed the color printer answer has been searching as long as I have. Every printer manufacturer’s technician I’ve ever confronted concerning the color printer answer has been trained in every aspect of color printing except the one I’m trying to expose.  How do you get a super-quality color printout from an inexpensive color inkjet printer?  The numbers say you can. With resolutions of 600, 720 and over 1,000 dots per inch, these puppies should crank out quality every time.  The manufacturers say you can. With sample pages that show you how their products can rival a Kodak moment, they mesmerize you into snapping up a color printer for office, home, school or church.  So why can’t I print a decent looking color picture?   

 

Don Is Going To Tell Me  Don Baker lays his color printouts on the table before me. They look better than good. They look superb.  “How,” I ask him as I gaze at the sharp, snappy, professional-quality images before me, “do you do this?”  “Okay, Peter,” Don kindly responds, “I’ll tell you.”   

 

Don’s Quest  Don Baker’s first job was as a Manufacturing Engineer at a computer company called Basic 4. “The name was pretty simple,” Don says. “It came from the computer language called Basic, plus the four basic parts of a computer that were considered mandatory at the time — cpu, disk, monitor and printer.” His fascination has always been with printers.  “I’ve worked on line printers, chain printers, golf ball printers, cylinder printers and band printers. I’ve worked on laserjets, bubblejets and inkjets. I’ve worked on thermal plotters, I’ve worked on pen plotters.” Don’s eyes glaze over. “I love printers,” he softly murmurs.   

 

Tuning Up  To Don, no printer deserves to print until he’s cleaned it, lubricated it, tightened it and tested it. And tested it some more. “There’s basically two manufacturers of color inkjet printers today,” says Don, “Hewlett-Packard and Epson. The HP printers are at 1200 dpi while Epson’s are at 1440 dpi, so Epson does give you a bit more resolution. But the Epsons are much harder to take apart to clean. For high volume work where you’ll be doing a lot of cleaning, consider using an HP.”  Indeed, 1440 dpi is 20% better than 1200 and can give you a slightly sharper image. However, I hate to clean printers. Decisions, decisions.  “I use Scotch Brite on the rollers to clean them,” Don continues, “and a tiny dab of isopropyl alcohol, although you’re not supposed to use it because it dissolves the rubber. I’m very careful.”  “So how do I fix the horizontal banding I get on my color printer?” I ask. “You know, those slight streaks that run from side to side.”  “Just run the print head cleaning routine,” Don responds. “You’re getting ink buildup on the print head, and the little drops are smearing as the head moves back and forth. Clean the head, and the drops will go straight onto the paper, not cling to the head.”   

 

The Answer  I meet Don’s wife Kay, whom he met in English class at Long Beach City College back in 1971. Don got his Engineering Degree in Electronics from Cal State University in Long Beach, and eventually his MBA from Pepperdine.  Kay shows me an 8H10 photo of their son Christopher, 9. “Nice picture,” I say, examining the glossy enlargement. “That’s not a picture,” says Don, “that’s from my Epson. I scanned the photo with a cheap scanner.”  I’m staring at the 8H10 enlargement. It looks exactly like the ones I just paid a professional photographer $25 each for. Same paper. Same quality. I’m mystified.  I look up at Don in bewilderment, and he reads my mind. “It’s the paper,” he says.   

 

It Can’t Be  I don’t believe him.  “How can it be the paper,” I say. “This picture looks great. That can’t just be the paper. Besides, I’ve tried lots of different papers. I’ve never, ever gotten something as good as this.”  Don, The Engineer kicks into high gear. “Look,” he says while stretching his hands out in front of him to explain, “it is the paper, and here’s why.”  “First of all, most people try several different kinds of paper, but they’re trying photocopy papers and laser printer papers and cheap inkjet papers. When the ink from an inkjet gets onto these papers, the ink follows the fiber in the paper and ‘bleeds’. Some of the ink spreads out to the sides, making the picture less sharp. Some of the ink spreads to the back of the paper, so if you turn the sheet over you can see it starting to come through a little bit.”   

 

 

Think About It  “And here’s the real killer. With all this ink bleed, your ink isn’t on top of the paper where you can see it any more. It’s soaked into the paper somewhere. On the surface of the paper, you see a lighter, grayed-out image as if you were printing with diluted ink. Think about it; some of the ink is inside the paper where you can’t see it now; some of it is even on the back. Some has spread to the sides. One dot of ink is now spread out and doing the work of four or five dots. Of course your pictures don’t look good.”  I’m starting to believe him. Don continues.  “You have to use coated paper stock, so the ink can’t bleed into the paper fibers. And you can’t use a single coated paper, because that single coat is just formulated to keep the ink from getting into the paper fiber. It doesn’t have the best ink adherence, it doesn’t have the best reflectivity. You need a second coating on top of the ink barrier coating, and that second coating has to be optimized for viewing the ink. You don’t want a coating that can’t properly reflect back the light to set off the colors, and you don’t want a coating that the ink can’t adhere to. Even in the not-so-technical field of painting, like what you do to your house or car, there’s a primer coat and a finish coat. This is the same thing.”  I’m listening, and I’m gazing at the 8H10 “enlargement”. I have found the color printer answer, and it is Don Baker. My quest is over.   

 

Don The Man  Don Baker is considered an expert on inkjet color printing. He’s been a guest lecturer on this subject on both coasts. He’s been consulted by paper manufacturers. He’s chased after by dissatisfied inkjet users far and wide. He’s sought out for interviews by disreputable reporters.  “Don,” I say, “I need some human interest. Where are you from?”  “My family moved out here from Rockford, Illinois when I was 14. Kay’s family moved out from Superior, Wisconsin when she was two. We live in Long Beach now.”  “You know,” he continues, “the same logic applies to printing black and white images on an inkjet printer. If you don’t use a properly coated paper, your black ink will bleed, you’ll have that ‘diluted ink’ look, and you won’t have the proper reflectivity to show your image off correctly. Coated paper isn’t just for color work, it’s for quality black and white too.”  “Of course, an RGB (red, green, blue) phosphor monitor image does have some colors that can’t be directly translated to a printer’s CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow, black) colors. That’s why some high-end large-format printers use more than four color cartridges, which makes more printable colors available. But you’re looking right now at images that came out of an Epson, and you’ve already said that you like what you see. If you want to modify an image with an artist program like Embellish or Photo>Graphics, fine, but it still won’t look very good if you use cheap paper.”  Human interest, to Don, is more about color printing. What else, after all, could be of interest to anyone?   

 

A Solid Technical Background  Besides working at Basic 4, Don was the Director of Program Management at Excellon Automation (they make drilling machines and pick and place machines for the printed circuit board industry), was the Director of Production and Operations at Emergency Power Engineering (EPE) in Costa Mesa (they make uninterruptible power supplies), was General Manager of Online Power in City of Industry, and General Manager of Toner Systems International (TSI).   

 

The Research Pays Off  Mr. Baker has spent a lot of time researching the available papers, and has found that there isn’t much to choose from. “The manufacturers are making laser and photocopy papers, because that’s where the high volume profits are. It’s hard to find coated papers that are suitable for professional-looking inkjet use, even if they’re labeled for inkjets. I talk to the technical people at the paper companies to find out what coatings they’re using, then I get samples of the ones that sound promising and test them. And people want to print on foil, and Lexan, and cloth, and other odd materials, so I get samples and test those too. It’s kept me very, very busy.”  But if it was easy, everybody would be doing it. And Don Baker, it seems, is the only one who is. “In my test lab I use both Hewlett-Packard and Epson printers. And I’ve recently formed a company to supply my clients with the kinds of papers they should be using but can’t find, or find but at absurd prices,” Don says. “The company’s called ‘Klassic Specialties – Inkjet Papers and Films’. We stock the papers and special materials that inkjet printers require for quality output.”   

 

Can You Print On My Cat?  Don opens another folder and starts pulling out some of those “special materials”. “At first, everybody just wanted to know what kind of paper to use. Now they want me to sell it to them, too.”  “Look, this is Lexan, but with a special finish so the ink will adhere.” I run the sheet of plastic through my fingers; it bends and feels like paper. “It will last forever. You can walk on it, you can beat it. Great for signs.”  “And look at this mirrored silver reflective film. A model rocket builder takes this stuff, prints logos and images on it, then wraps it around the rockets before they go out the door. Look at the reflection; it’s truly a mirror finish, not a matte finish like many other films. You can also use it for presentation cover sheets – it looks great for that.”  “And this Photo Glossy paper is what that 8H10 picture of my son was printed on. It looks and feels exactly like photographic paper, and is double coated so the ink won’t bleed. Not only does it have the proper coatings on the front, but it has an extra reflective coating on the back so any light that isn’t reflected off the top and gets into the paper is reflected from the bottom. Otherwise, whatever the picture is against, such as the backing in a picture frame or the table top, absorbs the light that goes through the paper. It’s details like this that give a picture its proper ‘pizazz’.”  “Here, look at this popular one. It’s called Canvas, and you use it for greeting cards, business cards and framed paintings. One business is using it for ‘design-your-own’ holiday cards, where you can select from a library of thousands of images and any saying you can think of, and out pops a greeting card as good as any Hallmark. And art classes use it a lot – a pupil scans an original work, then prints it on this paper for perfect reproductions. The paper is coated differently on both sides, so you print the color image on the image side and the black text on the text side.”   

 

The Customer Is Always Right  “I’ve got these papers in letter and legal sizes and in A0 through A3 sizes. I’ve got specialty films for special purposes. I’ve got custom transparency films with a special surface so the ink will adhere and not flake off. It’s not only great for overhead projector use, but you can use it for window decorations or storefront window displays. I’ve even got adhesive clear film.”  “Here’s some brand new items. This one is adhesive backed vinyl, for bumper stickers and signs. This one is adhesive backed polyester silk, which feels and looks just like real silk. It’s great for framing and upscale department store signs.”  “Now this is Backlight Film. Use it on the front of light boxes for unique displays. And this is our new Opaque Glossy, which has the look of our Photo Glossy but is thin like paper so it’s easily bound into presentations and reports.”  “If you need a special paper or film, call me. Anyone is welcome to do so. Once in a while somebody calls with a need that I haven’t researched yet, and I get right to work on it.” Don sighs. “I love finding papers,” he says.  

 

The Customer’s T-Shirt Is Always Right  “And I’ve got T-Shirt Transfer Paper that you print on and then apply to a t-shirt or other fabric with an iron. It’s unique, though, and not like the other transfer papers you’ll find, because you wait until it cools down before you peel it off. There’s a special plastic that melts and encases the ink and binds it to the fabric, so you can wash it without losing any color. The other transfer papers on the market don’t protect the ink as well, and you have to peel off the transfer papers when they’re hot so you end up burning your fingers. Here’s a special tip, though,” he continues, “don’t print on cloth at more than 400 dpi. The fabric weave won’t accept it and you’ll actually lose some detail.”  “Hey!”, he remembers something with a sudden twinkle. “One client uses my T-Shirt Transfer Paper to make custom shower curtains!”   

 

Finishing The Page  “What about the minor problem of inkjet pictures spotting if they’re hit with a couple of drops of water?” I ask. “Spray them with a can of any image sealer from any art supply store,” Don counters. “Artists have the same spotting and smudging problems, and that’s what they do. It’s specially formulated so as not to detract from the image.”  “And while you’re at the art store, pick up a can of spray adhesive. Use it to glue together pictures printed on different kinds of paper. That way, you can have a snappy full-color photograph on one side, and a business card or foil paper on the other. And you can also use it to attach your pictures to heavy poster board for store and school displays.”  “Since you’re out shopping, also pick up one of the paper cutters with the roller blade instead of the pull-down lever. I find it gives a cleaner cut, and the blades come in a variety of styles so you can give your pictures fancy edges. Use it to cut your photographs, greeting cards, business cards and whatever to the size you want, or trim the edges when you glue them back-to-back.”  (I did check later for this item, and ended up buying one. Mine is made by Fiskars, is called a Rotary Paper Trimmer, came with straight and decorative blades plus a “perforating blade” for tear-off portions and a “paper scoring blade” for perfect folds, and had a better price at Costco than at Office Depot.)   

 

 

Price, Price, Price  Nevertheless, the higher cost of special papers can be scary when you’re first starting.  “Use any plain old paper to do your scratch layouts,” advises Don. “Use the quality paper when you’re ready for your finished product. And stop thinking about a nickel. When you go to a restaurant, does it upset you when they charge $1.50 for a Coke? Of course not. It’s the overall meal that you consider when you get the bill. Do the same thing when you create an image. I mean, you don’t clip pictures out of the newspaper and scan them for your art work. It’s cheap that way, of course, but it doesn’t look very good. You put a few hours into something and spend several hundred dollars for the printer and scanner, and now you’re worried about a nickel. Nobody should treat a printer like that. Cheap price is cheap paper – no coatings, lots of bleed, that diluted ink look, and low reflectance.”  I did do some price comparisons of the Klassic Specialties products, although it’s hard to do so when there isn’t much of any competition. For example, I couldn’t find anybody with an equivalent to Don’s “Canvas”, the paper you use for business and greeting cards. But Fry’s Electronics always has a sale, and some Hammermill Jet Print Ultra Gloss paper for “color inkjet printing” looked similar to Don’s Photo Glossy “photograph paper”. However, the Hammermill product, even on sale at 85¢ per sheet, costs twice what the Klassic Photo Glossy costs. And he’s right about the nickel. Every time I open a can of soda it’s several nickels, and I don’t think anything about it even though a glass of water is free. If I want the look, I’ll have to use the right product. I sure wouldn’t pay the photographer $25 a pop if he used cheap paper.  “Do you hire somebody without reading their resume?”, Don continues. “Of course not. And you shouldn’t buy paper unless you know what you’re getting. If it doesn’t say on the label, call the manufacturer. The phone call is much cheaper than a bad box of paper. Ask what the coatings are. Ask if it bleeds on an inkjet printer. Ask about reflectance.” 

  

Getting Your Hands On Don’s Klassic Specialties  Don puts on his business hat for a moment and explains how he’s looking for dealers for his unique products. He’s been doing some computer shows where he sells to the SOHO (small office, home office) marketplace to see what their needs are. He’s been demonstrating how using the right paper with an inexpensive image can produce striking results. “At the shows I use Print Artist, which you can buy from several of the show vendors for about $10. And then I print the four-color images that come in that package. The results are stunning – so bright and vivid. But you have to use good paper.” He’s already set up his business to private label his papers for others, so anyone can have a unique line of quality papers by reselling Don’s products.  And he’s got a $10 “Sampler Special”. “You pick and choose exactly what you want to try, down to the sheet. Photo Glossy, Lexan, Canvas, any mix of the products is fine. That way, you’ll try them and see what quality really is.”   

 

And A Last Minute Tip From The Picture Man  I’m all set. Don has handed me some samples to play with, I’ve got a hundred ideas on how to use what he’s taught me, and I can’t wait to get home and start printing.  “Any final advice?”, I ask Don.  He grins at me with that impish look of all experts teaching a neophyte.  “Well,” says Don, “I’ve told you absolutely everything you need to know to print a perfect image. Keep your printer clean and use the absolute best paper you can find. Just remember that you have to start with a good picture.”    Author’s note: Canon and Lexmark also make color inkjet printers.    

 

References Don Baker, Klassic Specialties – Inkjet Papers and Films, 562/865-2988 (voice & fax),  http://home.earthlink.net/~klassicspec/          http://home.earthlink.net/klassicspec  or email to klassicspec@earthlink.net  mailto:klassicspec@earthlink.net 

Canon Computer Systems, http://www.ccsi.canon.com

Embellish, http://www.dadaware.com

Epson America, http://www.epson.com

Hammermill, http://www.hammermillpapers.com 

Hewlett-Packard Company, http://www.hp.com

Kodak, http://www.kodak.com 

Lexmark International, http://www.lexmark.com

Photo>Graphics, http://www.truespectra.com    

Section ListDon Is Going To Tell Me  Don’s Quest  Tuning Up  The Answer  It Can’t Be  Think About It  Don The Man  A Solid Technical Background  The Research Pays Off  Can You Print On My Cat?  The Customer Is Always Right  The Customer’s T-Shirt Is Always Right  Finishing The Page  Price, Price, Price  Getting Your Hands On Don’s Klassic Specialties  And A Last Minute Tip From The Picture Man  Author’s note  

 

The Southern California OS/2 User Group  P.O. Box 26904  Santa Ana, CA 92799-6904, USA  Copyright 1998 the Southern California OS/2 User Group. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  SCOUG is a trademark of the Southern California OS/2 User Group.  OS/2, Workplace Shell, and IBM are registered trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation.  All other trademarks remain the property of their respective owners.           

 Copyright 2000, Southern California OS/2 User Group   

 

 

 

           

 

 

 

 

Money Matters

By Liz Orban

 

  

 

 

 

For those of you who are interested in banks and technology, here is a website for you:

www.electronicbanker.com/

 

Banks are often more interested in security than in newfangled gadgets.  But you can read about the ones that are adopting new technology early.  Some of the articles are about web banks that find they also need a physical branch, how three companies are allowing you to pay all your bills in one place online, and a service that lets merchants check to see if you have money in your account before honoring checks.  One article says Microsoft itself took a $6 million hit when 485,000 credit cards were fraudulently used on Expedia.com after cardholder information was stolen from other ecommerce sites.

 

Everyone is always interested in saving money on phone calls.  We’ve heard of Net2Phone, which requires software in your computer and a microphone.  But an article in the September Technology Investor magazine explains how all phone calls will probably be sent through the internet someday.  The purpose of the article was to help you find companies that make internet telephone equipment to invest in.  But they also listed several sites that allow free PC to Phone calls.  For domestic calls:

www.dialpad.com

www.xeroplus.com

For international calls to some countries:

www.hottelephone.com

www.callrewards.com

 

If you are a world traveler and you need to find an ATM, visa has a program on its website to find their 531,000 ATMs.  

www.visa.com/pd/atm

Interestingly, the site is also available on your Palm VII.  They say they are one of 23 providers of content to the Palm VII.  

 

For those of you with money to invest and you want to find the best rate, go to

www.bankrate.com

 

This site also has calculators for almost anything, and links to all things financial.

 

 

 

 

 

INTERNET TALK

By Frank Chao

(September 2000)

 

 

 

 

Hello again. Please allow me to extend to you a warm welcome to the 27th

article in the "Internet Talk" series. 

 

GREYSTONE PARK IN BEVERLY HILLS

(See Liz Orban's article about  "Digital Hollywood".) After attending thisfascinating computer trade show, we visited Greystone Park" in the north endof Beverly Hills. This palatial estate contains the stately Doheny mansion.See http://www.ci.beverly-hills.ca.us/cbh-doc/attract/rec/greystone.htm for details about this fascinating location.

 

 "602Pro PC SUITE 2000"

Liz Orban has discovered an office suite called "602Pro PC Suite 2000" that is another free alternative to Microsoft Office. As most of you know, Microsoft Office is a suite of products that includes Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Powerpoint, Microsoft Access, etc.  After downloading this software from

   http://www.software602.com/products/pcs/index.html 

I was pleasantly surprised to find that it can open and edit *.doc files that were created with Microsoft Word 2000.Ditto for *.xls files that were created with Microsoft Excel 2000. I have not found the time to determine how much compatibility "602Pro.." has with macro "Visual Basic for Applications" language. Nevertheless,  for most computer users, this is a great alternative to Microsoft Office's core components. For your convenience, I have included a hyperlink to  the "Software602" Website at my personal Webpage. There is also a hyperlink to Sun Microsystem's free "Staroffice" software suite at this Website. I highly recommend the use of free software alternatives to commercial software like Microsoft Office. For many computer users, the free alternatives are more than adequate for basic desktop functionality. 

 

"YAHOO MAIL " ALLOWS VIEWING OF FILE ATTACHMENTS

"Yahoo mail" remains the most technologically-advanced of all of the free Web-based e-mail services. As of the previous month, users of "Yahoo mail" can now view most  file attachments, even if the associated application is not loaded onto the computer that they are using. For example, if a Yahoo mail user receives a *.doc Microsoft Word file as a file attachment, he or she can now click on a "View attachment" hyperlink that is located to the right of the file. At this point, the contents of your file can be viewed. This can be done even if Microsoft Word is not loaded into the computer that the Yahoo mail user is utilizing. Yahoo has incorporated a copy of the "Outside/In" file viewer into their Website. I will use this new capability when I travel: wherever my sojourns take me in upcoming months, I can access http://mail.yahoo.com  from anyone's computer and view *.doc files that my students send me, even if the computer that I am using does not have the correct version of Microsoft Word loaded into it. 

 

As usual, here are a few caveats: this new capability is only as good as the "Outside/In Server" technology that Yahoo is using to display the file to you: In a recent test of Microsoft Word file attachments,  the text portions of a complicated document were displayed with minor formatting inaccuracies. However, all of the complex graphics that were embedded into the document were displayed as meaningless grey rectangles. In order to view the document in it's true appearance, I still needed to download the *.doc file, before I could determine what grade to give to a student's assignment.

      

SPRING 2001 CLASS AT EL CAMINO COLLEGE

Kostek Haussman, a long-time GSBUG member, continues to do a superb job of helping me teach the Monday evening section of "Computer Information Systems 13" at El Camino College. He has also agreed to help me teach my CIS 19 class which starts in January of 2001.  The official title for this course is "The Internet and Networking Principles". I have been working on a course syllabus and this document will be posted onto my Web site at  http://fchao.tripod.com  during the month of November.

 

    

NEWBIES CORNER

Don't worry about breaking your computer. Computers are like cars. You buy one. You start using it and then no matter how much you spent for it, the parts inside will start breaking. To get the best use and enjoyment out of a computer, use it often without fear. When something fails, get help from other people, like the wonderful people at the Greater South Bay PC Users Group.  

 

DOWNLOADING A WEBPAGE

Take a look at the Los Angeles Times Website at  http://latimes.com  At this site, they provide, for free, some of their world class articles each day. But he who giveth also taketh away. About a week later, they pull the same articles off of the free portion of their Web site. At this point in time, the same  article now only appears on the fee-based section of their Web site. What if you want to save a copy  of an article as Web page files to your hard drive before they remove them from the free section of their Website? Here are a few hints about how to accomplish this:

 

As most of your know, most Web pages actually consist of a *.htm or  *.html file AND one or more graphics files. The top-level Web page at a Web site is usually called "index.html", without the quotation marks. The graphics files at most Web sites are either *.gif  or *.jpg files.  Unless you own some Web crawler software packages which cost thousands of dollars, most computer users will be using either Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator to do "File, Save As.." commands to save the files from a Web site down to their hard disk drives. 

 

The problem with using either Internet  Explorer or Netscape to save the files for a Web page down to your hard drive is that neither does a good job by itself. Netscape does a good job of saving the index.html (or other *.htm?) file but you have to manually save each of the graphic files. This can be a laborious procedure. Internet Explorer tends to trash the *.html file but it does a fabulous job of saving all of the graphics files into a subdirectory on your hard drive it makes a subdirectory and downloads all of the graphics files from the Web site when you do a "File, Save As" on the *.html file. 

 

The solution for now is for you to install both Netscape and Internet Explorer into your computer. Internet Explorer comes with all current versions of Microsoft Windows so you probably have it on your computer already. Netscape can be downloaded from  http://www.netscape.com  Remember: never tell either browser that it is to become the default Web browser in your computer. If you do so, the other browser will pop up when you click on a Web page hyperlink from within any given browser, which might be a bit annoying.

 

After you have both browsers running in your computer, here is how to download all of the files from a Web page on the Internet:

Step 1:  Connect to the Internet if you have not already done so.

Step 2:  Start Internet Explorer if you have not already done so.

Step 3:  Start Netscape if you have not already done so.

Step 4:  Use Internet Explorer to navigate to the specific Webpage that you wish to save to your hard drive.

Step 5:  Use Internet Explorer to do a "File, Save As" on the *.htm? file that is at the Web page that you wish to save to your hard drive.

Step 6:  Make sure that Internet Explorer is displaying it's "Address Bar" toolbar.

Step 7:  Copy the URL of the Website that is being displayed by Internet Explorer (into the Windows "Clipboard").

Step 8:  Make sure that Netscape is displaying its "Location toolbar".

Step 9:  Paste the URL into the "Location toolbar" of Netscape.

Step 10:   Throw away the messed up *.htm? file that Internet Explorer downloads to your hard drive.

Step 11:  Use Netscape to perform a "File, Save As.." to download a good copy of the *.htm? file that is located at the Web page that you wish to save to your hard drive.

   

WAYS TO CONTACT ME:

If you have any questions or problems, I can be contacted by the following methods:

1. Leave a voice message for me at 310-768-8951.

2. Send me e-mail at:   mailto:fchao@elcamino.cc.ca.us

3. Send me "snail" US Postal Service mail to

      Frank Chao

      PO Box 6930

     Torrance, CA 90504-0030.

Or sell your computer and take up fishing instead !