April 6, 2012
The meeting was called to order at 7:34 p.m. by Executive Vice President Sally Holt. There won't be any door prizes tonight. The raffle prize is a LiteON 24X Internal DVD/CD Writer. Remember to get your raffle tickets from Harold Smith at the Ticket Table. He also has 3" x 5" cards to write questions for discussion/answers at the end of the Meeting.
New and renewing members see Jan.
The Clubhouse is still looking for a home. We are also looking for folks to help out with programs and publicity. The new Microsoft licensing scheme for refurbished computers has been worked out. If you know a low-income or disabled person who could benefit from the donation of such a computer, contact the Clubhouse Manager, Sid Jordan. His e-mail address is in the Newsletter.
SIG Announcements:
The Windows 7 SIG will meet at Bud Gallagher's at 1 p.m. on April 14th, the customary second Saturday after the Main Meeting. The topic is still under development. The May meeting is cancelled.
The Spectacular Linux SIG meets at 2 p.m. on the last Saturday of the month, April 28. The topic is still undecided. There are a lot of new things in the works so there may be late-breaking developments and Jan is open to suggestions and requests.
The Hardware SIG is cancelled this month.
Presentation:
Jan Fagerholm demonstrated XBMC, a Linux distribution media center based on Ubuntu. In the past decade, the price for the equipment to set up a home multi-media center has dropped by about 90% and it has gotten much simpler also, thanks in part to improved wireless technology. Digital displays can scan at a true 60 frames per second, rather than the 30 frames per second of interlaced CRT's. The group enjoyed a fine evening of music and film demonstrating the audio and video qualities and organization capabilities of XBMC.
One can download the XBMC software. It's Linux. It's free. It's strongly suggested that you store your multi-media on a dedicated box. Search for "media center PC" to identify shopping options and select among the many vendors.
Questions:
To solve problems with ads taking up time and space on AT&T by Yahoo Web mail add the Adblock extension to Firefox. There is an Internet Explorer version.
What's the best resolution for HDMI connection between a computer and TV? Use the default.
Why can't I copy graphics from some e-mails in forwarding? Copying capability depends on the graphic. Some images are graphics within the document and some are a link to a Web site. You can always download an image and save to the desktop.
How important is a recovery disk? It matters only if you want to see Windows again after a crash. Some computers have a built-in option to create a recovery disk. Don Odle reported that Easeus creates a recovery software option, at www.easeus.com. It is offered at our favorite price: free.
Has anyone had trouble using Quicken to download Wells Fargo banking information? Web sites don't like older versions of Quicken. It may be that Cookies are not being saved so that access information must be re-entered each time.
Someone sent me a .mov file: How do I view it? Download Quicktime from the Apple Web site. Uncheck the iTunes download that's included with the download. (Or install Linux, which will play all formats.)
The next meeting will be May 4.
The meeting was adjourned at 9:50 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Bayle Emlein, Secretary
