PAST MEETINGS


07 - 17 - 2003

The second meeting of the MacOS_Users_Group in Hammondsport, New York, was attended by eight people (Tom B, Carol B, John L, Gene T, Larry T, Karl K, Nancy C, Jack H).

After brief introductions, Tom reiterated the focus and intent of the MacOS_Users_Group - to be creative and frugal using OS9 and earlier systems. Someone suggested that OS might stand for Old School since we don't whine about our Macs and if we do have a rare problem, we "walk it off".

Each person at the meeting received a floppy disc with the website URL and a copy of an old (but neat) freeware called Clip2Gif which allows quick batch conversions of GIF, JPEG, TIFF and PICT files. A demo (of sorts) was given later of this application used in conjunction with the famous Command+Shift+4 image capture. (A great tool for illustrating step-by-step web tutorials)

Time-saving Keyboard shortcuts were discussed (such as Command+A, Command+C, Command+V, Command+X) and shown how they could be used to save paper when copying and printing long articles from the web. Karl noted that an open window of various folders, files and icons could all be selected, copied, and then pasted into a new Simpletext document - and the Mac would print a nice precise alphabetized list of all the items from the original window. A very handy little trick! Karl also brought a short tutorial printout for alternative ways to re-order the Apple Menu, besides alphabetical.

The "Speak Selection" feature of Simpletext amused the group as we found a friend who would always say what we wanted to hear. A more practical application of this feature might be in proofreading/ comparing two identical lists for errors.

Email etiquette was discussed in regard to forwarding chain letters, hoaxes, virus alerts and more. Tom showed how easy it is to send group mailings using the Bcc feature found in most mail programs. Also, it was pointed out that using all capital letters in our emails signifies anger or intense feelings but that the Japanese and Chinese do not have upper case letters in their culture. SO WHAT DOES THAT HAVE TO DO WITH THE PRICE OF......? :-)

Finally, Tom showed how to network two Macs using a $10 cross-over cable with the ethernet ports. This allows for large file transfers without having to copy many times to zip or floppy disks.

Next meeting will be August 21 (always the Third Thursday of each month).

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Hammondsport Mac Users Group - Hammondsport, NY 14840 - www.hportmug.com