Dorchester — Jul 9th 2013

[bold]Topics: Installing an SSD; Using Google Images; Producing our Bulletin; Q and A[/bold]

John introduced the meeting with over 21 members and guests present, on a very hot evening.

We again tried some new ideas for sharing the displays to make the presentations more easily visible to members. This time, two projectors were used, and a brief discussion at the end of the meeting considered possible improvements to this which would also improve members mutual visibility.

Euan used a case study to remind us how we can, given the right approach, diagnose and then treat some of the internal malfunctions that baffle many Mac users. The subject was a 'slow' and 'hot-running' 2008 iMac which was diagnosed as a possibly failing hard drive which, maybe, also suffered from clogged cooling. The owner was persuaded by enthusiastic family members to invest in a small 2.5" Solid State Drive with a 1Tb external HD for overflow and backup. Euan discussed how the issue was diagnosed, and how the original 'slow' and 'hot' 3.5" hard drive was replaced with the 2.5" SSD using a (modified) 3.5" to 2.5" adaptor. This seemingly arcane operation was used to illustrate the general principles which should govern all such 'surgery', ie. where to get know-how, what not to do, what to do, and how to do it, and how to avoid anxiety by methodical and unhurried work practices.
The SSD was physically smaller than the old HD, and so a certain amount of jury rigging, involving the use of Velcro, and aluminium shielding (to prevent possible RF mutual interference) was required to achieve a secure and stable installation.

Euan emphasised the following principles which are required for working on the innards of a computer. The surgeon needs plenty of time, peace, the elimination of distractions, and static build -up, and careful thinking through, and planning of the procedure. He needs good tools, particularly screwdrivers (magnetic tips). Work should take place on a bathtowel for cushioning and to prevent things from running away. Record stages with photos. When working on innards, mark plugs / sockets to preserve polarity, clean, using long fine brush. Need to maintain EM shielding, and take care to maintain original cable runs. Euan recommends Crucial.com for spares, and advice on, and supply of replacement parts. To summarise; if contemplating work of this sort, give Euan a call first!

Mark then spoke on Google Images.
Go to google.co.uk, select 'images' - using Chrome (because, unlike Safari, it also displays Microphone icon for spoken input). Drag image from desktop, find similar, entering descriptive word narrows down selections. Can speak search words using microphone. Google Images appears to be able to find e.g. pictures of oak trees, when the word 'oak' is not present in the metadata of the image supplied for matching.

Tom provided an update on the progress of the scanner around the groups. It has been w ideally used, but there was no current immediate demand to use it in Dorchester (probably the idea of crouching over a pile of slides on a hot summer evening proved off-putting). There were, however, a number of members who wished to use the scanner later in the year.

Mick -then divulged some of the secrets surrounding the production of our weekly bulletin, which involved an introduction to the mysteries of HTMl and CSS.
Mick explained the use of simple HTML Tags e.g <b> and <i> <table>.
He went on to explain the use of CSS to define formats and text styles, and illustrated some of these features as used in the source code of a typical bulletin, and how they controlled the appearance of the bulletin. Mick uses the CODA app to edit text.

[bold]Q and A[/bold]
Sending attachments to windows computer - May fail if attachment too big, or if anti-virus software rejected.

iCloud sorting photos in albums - right click and it allows photos to be sorted alphabetically by title, or using other criteria.

NoteSuite organises storage of pdf, photos etc. Euan recommended it for the Mac, but it is also available for the iPad, and is purchasable via the App store at a discount until July 15.

SR + [EW]

Comments

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Mark Ford said…

Tried to edit this and get rid of the ampersand but was unable to post my revised version - 'Edit' was the only option. But after Micks talk we all know what the odd symbols were supposed to be doing!

Mark Ford said…

Thanks Chris for correcting this so quickly.
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