THROUGH LINUX LAND
WITH GUN AND CAMERA
Installment Two
by Joe Pia

Installation of Linux
	Well, all the fears and trepidations about installing Linux went away. Not because I got real good at it, but because when I had the additional hard disk installed, the young man at the shop, Derek by name, also installed Linux for me. He simply took the jewel case out of my hands, opened it and laid the CD-ROM in the drive and proceeded. 
	In the course of collecting all those versions of Linux that I talked about in the last issue other people helped me decide to go with the Red Hat 6.0 version of Linux. It was that disk that Derek started working with.
	He was well underway before I knew what he was up to. I asked him what he was doing. He said he was installing the program. I was surprised but he was quite casual about it. Said the installation was covered by the fee I was paying to install the hard drive. I was not about to argue.
	The boss stood around, too. He needs, he says, to learn about Linux himself. This was one way to get a look at what had to be done. I left the SuSE package of Linux with him to study. He will probably install it on one of the shop’s machines. I expect this week to go in and pick up my package. I will be very interested in what he has to say.
	When I saw what Derek went through to install the Red Hat package, I was very glad he was doing it. It took him, an experienced Linux user and installer, about an hour and a half. Seeing the kinds of problems he encountered, my guess is that it would have taken me a couple of weeks and much gnashing of teeth. Derek, I’m grateful to ya, lad.
Second Thoughts
	Since having the program(s) installed, though, I have talked with several other people about the installation. There are also some idiosyncracies that have developed in my installation, Derek notwithstanding.
The Bits and Sizes of Partitions 
on a Hard Drive
	One has to do with which “size” program to use: 16 or 32 bits. Derek explained that Linux and Windows NT both use 16 bit approaches. That means that disk partitions can be a maximum of 2.1 Gigabytes. Windows 95 and 98 use 32 bits. That’s what lets them use those huge hard drives that the shops want to sell us. The 32 bits allows the program to use the entire disk as a single storage space. Of course, the units on the drive are huge, and because of the way data are written to the disk, they can fill up one of those galactic size disks pretty fast. So, early on, Derek explained, we have to set things up as 16 bit. Okay. Who am I to argue? Turns out that I should have argued, or at least asked for a lot more detail.
	Not everyone agrees that 16 bits is the way to go. WordPerfect 8, for example, uses 32 bits in its Linux version. “Why,” asked a friend, “would you go for 16 bits when the main program you want to use is 32 bits?” I have no answer for him.
	My guess is that picking the brains of a number of local people would yield considerable information. I will do that, but not before this column is turned in to our illustrious editor, Sally. She is leaving for her summer frolics in Canadia this coming week. So, I have to have this column ready earlier than usual. So, here I sit (violins playing sad songs in the background), working on this piece instead of being out in the garden pulling weeds and moving the irrigating hoses from one plot to another. After you wipe the tears from your eyes, you can move on to the next paragraph.
More Info Next Issue
	In the next issue, September, I will have more things to say about Linux. By that time we will have had our monthly program on Linux. Everyone will be so much more sophisticated, not to say enlightened. In the meantime I will make every effort to get myself better educated and be ready to pass on the good word to my readers.
	One benefit of the Linux encounter is that I have a new 8.3 Gig hard disk with several 2.1 Gig partitions on it. That’s the size we get with a 16 bit approach. Whether it stays that way or not is another issue.
Two more things
	Two other items associated with this adventure are worth noting. The first is about the difference between scsi equipment and the other boards and systems, often IDE.
	The second is a piece out of a newsletter that appears on-line. My wife downloaded it from her e-mail and gave it to me. It appears as a separate piece elsewhere in this issue. You will note that, as Sally pointed out, it sounds like the kinds of things people used to say about each dos upgrade. It’s important that we recognize that a change always leads some people to feel uncomfortable. Some of us are more vocal about our discomfort than others are. Other folks cast about for something to say that sounds like they have given some thought to the situation, even if they obviously haven’t.
	First, one piece of information I picked up in the course of this exercise is this: scsi (pronounced Scuzzy) mother boards will accept up to nine plug in devices, like drives, etc. All other boards accept a maximum of four. Mine is a non-scsi system.
	I had three floppy drives and a hard drive plugged into my mother board. One had to come out to make space for the new hard drive. So, now I have an uninstalled 100 Mb Zip drive that I will probably get installed into my wife’s machine.
	I use a Digital Research ls-120 Drive. It is compatible with the same ol’ 1.44 Meg disks with which we are so familiar. So, I won’t miss the Zip drive at all. When I need two drives, like for copying from one floppy to another, the dr drive will handle that for me. I just stick a 1.44 Meg disk into the drive and copy to it. I guess I could even copy from it. When I’m preparing a manuscript that is larger than a 1.44 Meg disk will handle, I have that ready to hand also. Linux will write to either disk.
Price can be an issue 
	The other cute part of this little tale is that a scsi drive of the same size would have cost about $500. The one I bought, a Western Digital 8.3Gigs, cost $175 plus $40 installation—that also included Derek’s installing the Red Hat Linux 6.0. I guess it just costs more to use scsi equipment. It would have to do a good bit more for us to be worth the extra cost. Unless, of course, one is a professional whose computer, maybe plural, is an integral part of one’s money making capacity. In that case, with the cost of the machine(s) being written off over several years, the higher price isn’t that burdensome. For most of us it is.
	That’s all for now. See y’all next month. Hope nobody overindulges at the picnic.

ONLINE LEARNING NEWS

A news and idea service of Lakewood Publications Inc., Tuesday, June 29, 1999 Vol. 2, No. 14. THIS WEEK:
1. Linux is promising—but wait...Linux persists: here’s more of what you think.
	Linux persists in the news: The Linux Professional Institute of Raleigh, NC, announced plans to deliver its first certification exams in July.
	But what does the Linux operating system (OS) mean for trainers? Stay tuned— some of you think it has promise as an alternative to Windows. 
	Andy Hughes (andy@purdue.edu), Webmaster with Purdue University’s Electrical and Computer Engineering unit in West Lafayette, IN, says: 
	“The true power of Linux comes from the fact that it provides a level playing field for programmers, independent of the kind of controls that Microsoft holds over Windows. 
	“You can run a browser, Acrobat reader, and many other useful software tools on Linux. What is lacking is a standardized ‘Linux Office Suite’ of programs everyone can use that is reliable and supported. 
	“If Adobe gets on board with Linux and extends its strength in graphics products into a broader range of products (like PowerPoint and Access), then we may actually see some competition for Microsoft. May the best OS win.”
	Michael Serrao (mserrao@tecc.com), based in Melbourne, FL, as information‑ technology manager with SAFCO Technologies Inc. of Chicago, says: 
	“I believe Linux has great potential. However, don’t look for it to take over the world from Microsoft just yet. Microsoft has a vast, and distinct, advantage in the ease‑ of‑use‑by‑non‑techies department. 
	“Until someone else comes up with a less bloated AND easy‑to‑operate solution, Microsoft will continue to own the top spot.”
	Reader Sandullah Epsicokhan (web-master@epsico.com) thinks Microsoft will hold that top spot indefinitely. 
	Epsicokhan, president of his own local‑area network service business and an adjunct instructor at Heartland Community College in Bloomington, IL, says he bought Red Hat 5.2—software incorporating Linux—so he could discuss it in a class he teaches. His assessment:
	“Too difficult for my wife to install, and too difficult to remove from my system once installed.” Epsicokhan still backs Windows because it has so many applications already in place.
	“Operating systems are nothing more than tools for getting work done,” he summarizes. “Individual users care more about word processors, accounting programs, cookbooks and games. Developers creating software for the market usually go with the market leader.” In short: “Nothing runs Windows applications better than Windows,” says Epsicokhan.
	Meanwhile, readers suggest these sites for more about the Linux operating system:
	http://www.netcraft.com/Survey/; 
	http: //www.linux.org; 
	http://www.apache .org; 		
	http://webcompare.internet.com; 
	http: //serverwatch.internet.com

Fantastic Science!
by Ed Farabaugh

	I’m sure you are aware that a group of astronomers have been searching the skies for evidence of life elsewhere in the Universe. I believe the first project was started by the U.S. Navy back in the 1960s,  but was abandoned for lack of resources. Later the project was taken up by others. Because of the tremendous computer power needed to do the “number crunching,” someone came up with the idea of sharing the workload among many of us ordinary computer users, whose system wastes a lot of CPU time, waiting for the next keystroke or displaying a screen saver while we’re away.
	Take a look at: http://setiathome.ssl .berkeley.edu/.
	Read the links which provide a good explanation of the project. I have just installed the software, and my computer is now spending its “spare time” working on a tiny “slice of the sky.”
	It won’t operate unless your screen resolution is set to a minimum of 800 X 600. After 24 minutes of computer time (in the background) the software has completed 0.125 percent of the analysis of a TINY piece of the overall job (that’s 1/8 of one percent, so it’s clear that each project needs a lot of computer power).
	The software may be operated full time (in the background) or may be setup to be active as a screen saver (so it runs only when you are away from the computer).
	If nothing else, the fantastic numbers involved are interesting, and the display of the “work in process” is fascinating.
	This message was printed on recycled electrons.

	From the June 1999 issue of Bit by Bit, the publication of the Lehigh Valley Computer Group, Allentown PA.

Program Meeting Note
	The library’s url is http://www.roches-ter.lib.ny.us. There are many tools available for searching. 
	It is also still possible to call their dial up number, 428-7777, to access carl without Internet access.

RIVEN De”MYST”ified
The Saga Continued
by Tim Cook

	The continuation of a conversation with a player of RIVEN, The Sequel To MYST.
	Last month, as you recall, I had a conversation with my wife, Debbie. She was in the process of playing RIVEN, The Sequel to MYST, after having played and beat MYST. Well, it’s a month later, and I thought I’d check with her to see how she’s doing. By the way, I told you MYST was GAMES Magazine’s Computer Game of the Year. Debbie corrects me in saying it was their Game of the Year. The first time this honor was bestowed on a computer game. 
TC: Well Deb, here it is a month later. How are you doing on RIVEN? 
DC: I beat it. 
TC: Already? Was it too easy? 
DC: No, it wasn’t too easy, but once I got on the right track, it moved quickly. 
TC: Now that you’ve completed the game, what do you think of it? Do you still like it? 
DC: Yes. In some ways it’s better than MYST. Especially the scenery and the sound. However, I’m still partial to MYST because it was the first of its kind. The puzzles in RIVEN were harder. However, there were some areas that were annoying. I was a little disappointed when I found some areas that were basically just scenery and I couldn’t explore them. 
TC: Give me an example. 
DC: One example is the treehouse shown on the cover of the box. It looks like a marvelous and mysterious place but I couldn’t enter it. Another example is the huts in the fishing village. I spent about a week trying to get into these huts, but I couldn’t figure it out. Finally I went on the Internet looking for hints on how to enter these huts. I found out that it couldn’t be done. It’s as if they planned to do something here but ultimately decided against it. Riven had more interaction with people but a few didn’t speak English. This was interesting, but I wasn’t sure if there was any significance. 
TC: Were there any other problems you discovered since we last spoke? 
DC: There was a switch to open a secret elevator that I thought was too obscure. I basically just stumbled on it. There was a secret door in a cave that was pretty obscure, but I liked the method they used to get there. 
TC: What else did you discover? 
DC: I discovered the end of the game by accident. It was a pretty amusing way to die. There are three or four possible endings, but you know when you have the right one. 
TC: Tell the truth. Did you cheat to get to the ending? 
DC: I figured out the ending but I couldn’t get it to work. My hand icon wouldn’t work at a crucial time. So again I went on the Internet looking for more information on this. I found a site with Questions and Answers. It took a while to find this site since I visited a lot of sites with RIVEN information. I finally found a question and an answer that related to the problem I was having. It turns out I wasn’t the only one having this problem. The solution given was to hold the alt and space bar down at the same time and repeatedly click the mouse button. I don’t know if this solution was intended, but it worked. If it was, it’s a little too obscure for my taste. 
TC: Do you know the address of this helpful web site? 
DC: No. I used LOOKSMART to search for everything related to RIVEN. I’m pretty sure it wasn’t the Broderbund site. I didn’t bookmark it because once I had the answer I didn’t see the need to save it. 
TC: Do you think others will solve it as quickly as you did? 
DC: It depends. Some will find it difficult to solve because it is not necessarily logical. Although it does have a certain internal logic in its own world. 
TC: Would you be willing to answer questions from all those readers who just got RIVEN for Christmas? 
DC: I would. But if the question’s too easy, the answer may just be a little encouragement. For example, one question I read on the Internet was, “Help, I’m trapped on Boiler Island!” Well, Boiler Island is at the very beginning. If you don’t solve this one on your own, you’re not ready for the rest of the game. 
TC: How would they get in touch with you then? 
DC: They can send their questions to your email address at timc@radiks.net 
TC: Very good. Maybe we’ll post some of the questions and answers if we get enough of them. Did they leave the opportunity for another sequel? 
DC: Of course. 
Stumped? Ask Deb for a hint at: timc@radiks.net
CYAN Productions and REDORB Entertainment, a division of Broderbund Software, Inc. Price $49.99 Rated Kids to Adults. Windows 95, 100 MHZ Pentium 16mb ram Minimum 75 mb hard disk space 4X CD-ROM drive. Video and Sound compatible with DirectX.

	From the December, 1997 issue of The Central Iowa Computer User.

A Short Treatise On Viruses
by Alan Lynn

	Virus is a very scary word. We all have experience with being sick, of having a virus. We all know what it is to be infected. The media play on this fear by labeling many computer problems “Viruses.” The average media writer doesn’t have any clear knowledge about computers. The reader is often just as unknowing, and more than willing to give human qualities to a non‑living machine.
	What is a computer virus? It is a program, just like a word processor or a game. Let us define a few terms. A virus is a “self‑replicating‑automata” first theorized in 1949, by John Von Neumann, before there were any digital computers. The term “Virus” was defined in a doctoral thesis in 1983 by Fred Cohen. Great, so what is a virus? Very simple, a virus is a program that can clone itself. That is all a program has to do to be a virus. A better, though not as colorful, description could be “destructive code,” This would describe any program, virus or not, that was written to cause damage. Some kinds of destructive code are the “Trojan Horse,” just like the original, you invite it in not knowing there are Greeks, I mean, destructive code hidden inside. Another is a “Worm,” a worm waits. After being introduced into a system, a worm quietly multiplies until a signal is sent. The signal could be a date, it could be the programmer not getting paid or an employee being fired.
	Not all viruses are destructive, and not all destructive code is a virus. There is a virus that a company owner might wish to put on his network. This virus quietly multiplies, occasionally it asks for a code, which the owner puts in. Someone copies a file off the network and sells it to a competitor, when the file is opened it asks for the code, it might even infect the other companies computers.
	The classic virus is written in “machine language”; it is very small and is meant to slip into your computer unnoticed. The usual hiding place is either the boot sector, which loads the virus into memory every time you start your computer; then as you run programs it also infects them. The other favorite is in your executable files, files that start programs. When you run an infected program, it infects other files. Some viruses are a problem simply because they grow, taking up space formerly used by your software; or writing over some of your programs code. Some carry “cute” messages, but some are very destructive.
	There are probably hundreds if not thousands of viruses; luckily most reside in laboratories. A relative few plague the computer user. Here are some of the more famous pieces of destructive code.

	The ãBrain, the name includes the copyright symbol. In the fall of 1987 at the University of Delaware this program first appeared. Part of the reason this so famous is that we know exactly who wrote the program, and why. In Lahore, Pakistan, there were two brothers Amjad Farooq Alvi and Basit Farooq Alvi who owned a computer store called Brain Computer Services. They believed that copyright laws for foreign software did not apply to Pakistan and Pakistanis. They copied and sold programs like Lotus 123 and others, but were unhappy that foreigners, to whom the law applied (they thought) were also buying copies of the pirated software. They developed destructive code to stop this. The idea is not new, even Microsoft has toyed with the idea.
	Pakistanis got the clean copies and the Americans got the ãBrain, which they promptly brought home. This virus is still alive, I have seen new outbreaks in the last two years.
	An example of a “Worm” is the “Friday the 13th” virus. It has other names, “The Jerusalem Virus” because it was discovered at the University of Jerusalem in December of 1987. It is also called the PLO virus because this code was programmed to wait until 1988 before activating. The first Friday the 13th in 1988 was the fortieth anniversary of the last day that Palestine was recognized as a country. Thus are legends born. We do not know who wrote this or why but variations still persist.
	Not too long ago when looking for destructive code you ignored any data files, only boot files and executable were infected. The logic is simple, a data file can not be executed, and it can not infect other files, so even if by some mistake it did receive some destructive code it would just at most damage the file. Not anymore; in their wisdom very large companies have changed all that. The word is “Macro,” a macro is an executable data file. Unless you have been in a cave, you have heard of “Melissa,” a very famous macro. Now you have to check even more places.
	With all of this going on, how do you protect yourself? Theoretical ideal, you buy factory software, still in the wrapper and do not load any other programs or files that have been in another computer. This means no bringing files from work, no Internet, no shareware. And even then you may not be completely safe; there have been infected disks right from the manufacturer, Even a case where hard drives were infected at the factory. Enter the anti‑virus program and other preventive measures.
	Practice safe hex. A “friend” gives your son a new game, he loads it onto your computer. You come home, and work on some files from work then take the disk back to work. The system at work has problems; it has mysteriously been infected by a “Virus.” People take disks home and bring them back, infecting and reinfecting the work computers and their own. A favorite form of the “Trojan Horse” is games, in fact some games are nothing but a Trojan horse. 
	One form of anti‑virus protection is called a “Scan” program. It takes pieces of code from a virus, and then it compares your files looking for traces of this code. This is a relatively fast, simple way to protect yourself. Any files from outside should be scanned. This includes work files coming in and going out. One of the problems with scanning software is that if it doesn’t have a copy of the code it cannot recognize the virus. New viruses and variations are being written all the time, you must keep your scanning software up to date.
	A second line of defense is the Shield. A shield looks for “virus‑like” activity. Is something trying to load into memory when it shouldn’t? Is something trying to change an executable file? This shield has to walk a thin line; if it reports everything you will find that almost all of it is normal activity. You will get tired and shut it off. If it under reports, you may be infected.
	The third line of defense is a Detection program. If you take a file, count all the letters, then count all the spaces, take those number and do some math you come up with a unique number. If you attach this number to the file and check it from time to time, you will know if the file has been changed. Some files should not ever change, if they do you might have a virus. 
	Is that all there is? No, there are many ways to lose data and there are many safeguards. But, that, as they say, is another story.
	Play safe. 

	From the June 1999 edition of Orange Bytes, the publication of the North Orange County Computer Club in Orange CA.

Computer Law:
How can the Internet
be controlled?
by Bill Wood

	Maybe it’s time to take a look at the new technology from a broader perspective. I’m in a philosophical mood and am contemplating the role of law, and maybe lawyers, in the future.
	It seems everyone loves the Internet and all of the good things it can do for society. If only it didn’t have so much of “that” stuff on it. You know what I mean, if “that” information gets into the wrong hands, really bad things will happen.
	“If” can be a powerful word. If foreign agents can get access to high level encryption programs, they can communicate their dangerous plans with little fear of detection by our intelligence community. If young children see dirty pictures, they could be affected for life. And if a couple of crazy teenagers found bomb making information, they could hatch a devilish plan to murder students and blow up a school. 
	Tragically, all of those things happen. Sometimes computers are involved. Sometimes not. A great deal more understanding is needed before effective control is possible. 
	The Internet was designed to get a message to the correct recipient by whatever route is available. Literally it was a defense project designed to provide a means of communication in the event of nuclear war. Each little message packet will find an independent route to the destination if necessary. Once there, the receiving computer reassembles the whole message.
	Some of us remember playing with small amounts of mercury taken from broken thermometers. Now of course, we know about mercury poisoning and that we were endangering our health. Then however, it was interesting to play with it because when you pressed down on a glob, it broke into thousands of smaller drops. Each went a different direction. Later, with some effort, we reassembled the small droplets into a new glob.
	The December, 1998 issue of Wired magazine had a picture of the Internet. In some ways it represents that glob of mercury. That picture convinced me that efforts to censor the Internet by mere laws alone will fail. It shows the active nodes connected to the Internet. Currently there are more than 80,000 high level routers depicted in the marvelous graphic that can be downloaded from the net.
	Bill Cheswick, a scientist at Bell Labs, is responsible for checking the Internet every day. The technical explanation of how he does it is beyond my comprehension, but it is roughly like taking the temperature, respiration and blood pressure on a routine basis and charting the results. He uses a 400 MHz Pentium class computer and the task takes about twenty‑four hours to complete one cycle of tests. I highly recommend his web page at http://www.cs.bell‑labs.com/~ches/map/. 
	Any serious attempt to control activity over the Internet should reflect the true nature of the Internet and computers. Passing laws in a city or state may not make a lot of sense when you look at how many of those connections are outside the United States. Cheswick’s graphic doesn’t even show state or national boundaries.
	Even attempts to pass legislation regarding the “good” use of the Internet can forget that the Internet and the machines on the network are not always under control. 
	One bill in the Texas legislature “allows” Texas governmental units to broadcast public meetings over the Internet. SB1252 looks like it will be signed into law even though it may never be used. Why won’t it be used? Because someone inserted a provision in the final bill that is totally unworkable. 
	Under Texas law a city council must post a notice of any meeting for seventy‑ two hours prior to the beginning of the session. That notice must contain some basic information about the topics to be discussed at the meeting. But, the point the authors of the legislation missed, is another provision of the Open Meetings Act that requires the notice to be available at all times during that seventy‑two hours.
	It can be a criminal offense for the council to meet if that notice has not been posted for the requisite time. Any action taken at the meeting is subject to challenge. Further, they can not discuss any topics that are not on the notice.
	The current bill would require the same posting on the Internet. What happens if the server is down for part of that time? That question was not answered in the bill. The Texas Supreme Court has ruled that the Open Meetings Act must be read literally. In that case I think the legislature may have actually halted web-casts of public meetings. No governmental entity is going to gamble that the Internet servers will be on‑line continuously for that seventy‑two hour period. It is not worth the risk. 
Law Site of the Month‑June, 1999
	Generally the web sites I feature every month have been research oriented. I have 

tried to pass along the addresses of web sites that I use in my practice. They are good for facts and finding ‘the law.’  The web site at http://ipmag.com is maintained by IP Magazine is somewhat different. Although it has a fair amount of research information, it has some excellent commentary and essays on current topics of interest in the technology and intellectual property areas of computer law. 
	Recent articles featured criticism of the Administrations’ proposal to require law enforcement access to the encryption keys used in computer software. Other articles involved dealing with unsolicited e‑mail and even the possible downside to breaking up Microsoft.
	It also provides links to breaking news stories on technology topics. A recent issue linked to a story about the important opinion rendered by a panel of the US Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals that held encryption programs are entitled to protection as “speech” under the First Amendment. It is a very interesting web site.

	Bill Wood is an Assistant City Attorney, in the San Antonio City Attorney’s Office and a member of  Alamo PC. He practices real estate and technology law for the city and can be reached at wwood@email.com or via his web page that has links to legal resources on the Internet. It is at  http://lonestar.texas .net/~ww00580. Previous articles have been posted at http://www .alamopc.org/mag.html. 
	These articles are for general education only and are not intended as specific legal advice. He is not in private practice and is not soliciting clients. No attorney/client relationship is intended. Therefore, anyone concerned about any legal questions covered by these articles should consult a private attorney that is familiar with the field. 

SOFTWARE  REVIEW

Adobe Premiere 5.0
by Jonathan R. Wing

	Over the years, Adobe Premiere has always been a pretty decent computer application. I personally believe it’s one of the best software-based video-editing programs available. While previous versions of Premiere were good, it has never really been considered a serious, professional hands-on editor. However, the recently released version Premiere 5.0 becomes a totally new and much more powerful tool for digital video editing. It now packs a completely different and better interface with many new features.
	When I first received the package, I was rather excited. This is the program I’ve wanted to work with for the past year or so. Being a digital video enthusiast, this software is most likely the cheapest and easiest way to go. Included along with the Premiere 5.0 software was Photoshop 4.0 LE, Acrobat Reader 3.01, Apple QuickTime 3.0, tryout applications and a bundle of so many awesome programs, filters, videos, photos and more.
The New Look
	As soon as I started up the program, I could easily see that I would have lots of fun with the new features. The two new features that definitely stand out are the new Monitor window and the Timeline window.
	The new Monitor window incorporates the viewing functions found in previous versions into a cleaner interface that is much easier to use. I have two viewing windows—the Program window on the right, and the Source window on the left. I can simply drag and drop video clips from a source to one of the two new windows, to be added to the Timeline. It’s now much easier to access clips, since I can retrieve them from a small drop down box that is below the windows.
	The new Timeline window is influenced a lot by Adobe After Effects and many other professional editors. It now uses the Layering concept that Photoshop and other Adobe applications use so well. Now it’s much easier to handle multiple clips and it has a similar interface as the other Adobe products. I can now show, hide, shy, and lock tracks on the Timeline. I still have up to 99 video tracks and 99 audio tracks on the Timeline, giving me the same great flexibility as before.
Professional Editing Tools
The tools in the new Premiere are as good as always. But Adobe didn’t just leave it at that. They completely changed the whole way desktop video editing works. With up to 32 consecutive undoes, 21 audio filters, better title tools and the ability to create
videos up to 3 hours long, Premiere, I believe, blows the competition straight out of the water.
	Audio in Premiere is basically new. The previous synchronization problem in which long clips in timelines would drift from it’s audio, is gone. There’s a visible audio waveform with rubber-band controls so that I can very simply edit track volume and panning. New filters include the three-band parametric EQ, a compressor/expander, a flanger, high-pass and low-pass filters, noise gates, notch/hum filters, chorus, reverb and much more. This may all sound like gibberish to you, but when working with a project that
 has low quality sound, those filters can really make the audio come alive!
	Titling is now easier than before. I just add the text I want, pick the colors and fonts I prefer, and choose whether I would like for it to roll, crawl, or be static, and viola! I have great titles! All these functions are powerful, flexible, easy to use with precise timing controls. Resizing, changing fonts, changing text, changing justification are all available and easy to understand.
	Here now is one of my favorites—Special Effects and Transitions. Several of the different Special Effects filters that I used included Backwards Video, Black and White, Hue and Saturation, Blur, and Swirl. Transitions are very popular, but should not to be overdone! With over 75 popular transitions including wipes, fades, blinds, and many other special effects it can be very easy to use too many in your project!
Hardware/Software Support
	One problem, however, with the new Adobe Premiere 5.0 is the existing Hardware compatibility support. Not too many cards, especially low-end cards, are supported. The biggest, and most annoying, problem I experienced was my having to re-install Premiere every time I wanted to run it. After closing it, I would not be able to re-enter the program so I would have to delete it off my system, re-install it, and then restart the computer. I don’t really completely understand why this is, but I do know it’s basically due to the fact that the video card I have doesn’t have any supportive drivers for Premiere 5.0. You can follow this link—http://www.adobe.com/prodindex/ premiere/resources.html#matrices—to see a supported list of Video Cards and Drivers on Adobe’s web site. Some of these Video cards listed come with Adobe 4.2 and a “free” upgrade to the version 5.0 software.
	Even though it has little problems like this one, Premiere is a superb program overall. While used on the Professional level by many filmmakers and newscasters, it is still available to the home user. I wouldn’t necessarily suggest this product to somebody who is planning on editing a home video or vacation movie. However, it is definitely the perfect choice for those in who want a great production for business presentations, advertisements, training videos, or commercials but are operating on a limited budget.

	Jonathan R. Wing is a digital video enthusiast and still photographer and a member of the 1960 PC Users Group. He can be contacted via e-mail at gameboy@ 960pcug.org. This review originally appeared in the April 1999 issue of PC News.

PRINT SELECTED
MATERIAL FROM WEB PAGES
by Ken Fermoyle

	First, as in making Rabbit Stew, you must catch the rabbit! In this case, before you can print sections of text from Web pages you must first select the material, then paste it into an appropriate software program (e.g. WordPad, any word processor, MS Publisher, etc.). Do that by following these steps. (Selecting and Printing graphics is covered toward the end of this article).
	1. Select desired text material in the normal manner by setting your cursor at the upper left corner of the text and holding down the left mouse button. Continue holding the button down and drag the cursor to the end of the material you want to select, then release the button. Your selected text should now be highlighted.
	2. Go to the Edit Menu at the top of your screen and click on Copy (or use the Control-C keyboard shortcut). If you don’t already have the target software application open, open it now via the Start Menu or a shortcut icon on your Desktop.(Let’s assume you will use WordPad from the Accessories Group in the Start Menu. It’s quick and easy, and everyone who uses Windows 95/98 has it available.) 
	3. Go to the File Menu and click on New to open a new document.
	4. Make sure the blinking insertion pointer (vertical bar) is positioned at the upper left of the blank page.
	5. Go to the Edit Menu and click on Paste (or use the Control-V keyboard shortcut). The selected material should now appear on the blank page.
	6. Now you can either save the text (using Save As from the File Menu), edit it to reformat some of the text or to remove unwanted material, or print it (by going to the File Menu and selecting Print).
	I do this all the time. Frequently, when researching a subject for a future article, I first create a file by following steps 3 and 4, typing in just a title and perhaps a few notes at the top of the page, then I use File/Save As to give the file a name and save it in an appropriate folder. I visit various Websites, select helpful material and use Copy/Paste (steps 1 through 5) to insert it into the previously created file.
	I often use WordPad for this, but MS Word, Word Perfect or some other word processor that offers a Find or Find/ Replace function may be preferable if you assemble a large amount of text in a single file. Such software allows you to search for a word or phrase quickly and easily when necessary. 
	The process for selecting and Printing material from e-mail is the same. Follow the same Copy, Paste, Print sequence outlined above.
	If you want to print an entire Web page, simply click on the right mouse button anywhere on the page. Select Print from the pup-up menu that appears and follow normal Printing procedure. 
	If you want to print a picture or other graphic from the Web, do this:
1.		Place cursor on designed image.
2.		Click right mouse button.
3.		Click on Save Picture As
4.		Select the drive and folder where you want to store the graphic.
5.	Save it under the original name, or give it a new name.
	You can then print the graphic by importing it into an appropriate image editing program (e.g. Windows Paint, Photo Deluxe, Photo Shop, Photo Impact, etc.). Reminder: Web images are normally in low-resolution GIF of JPEG formats so they will not look as good when Printed as BMP, TIFF or other higher resolution images.
	A tip here If you’re only interested in printing out the text on a page, just turn off the graphics. In Internet Explorer follow these stops.
1.		On the View menu in the browser, click Internet Options.
2.		Click the Advanced tab. 
3.		Select the Multimedia tab, and remove checks in the Show pictures, Play animations, Play videos, and Play sounds check boxes.
	This will make Web pages load a lot faster, too. You can always turn the pictures, animations, etc. back on by reversing the procedure.
	Actually, what I do is use two browsers an older version of Netscape Navigator with graphics turn off, and a current version of Internet Explorer with all the goodies turned on.
	I use Navigator for research and other quick-and-dirty surfing, IE for normal Web wandering when I want to see all the graphics.

	Copyright 1999 by Ken Fermoyle, Fermoyle Publications. Ken has written some 2,500 articles for publications ranging from Playboy and Popular Science to MacWeek, Microtimes and PC Laptop. Ken's Korner, a syndicated monthly column, is available free to User Groups. For information or permission to reprint this article, contact kfermoyle@earthlink.net.

PRESIDENT’S COLUMN
August 1999
	
	Here it is August already. I’m writing in late July, but I can feel the hot breath of August dogging me at my heels. My guess is that the same is true for you.
	Growing up in southern California, I learned early on that Labor Day was only the beginning of the hot season. Even as late as the end of October the weather can be very hot. And it’s always dry during the summers there. This summer here reminds me very much of living through the hot times there. After 34 years in New York state, however, I find nothing surprising any more about the weather here. It always changes. What’s the standard line: ‘If you don’t like the weather, wait five minutes and it will change’? I’ve learned, though, to look forward to mid-August and the cool-off that begins then. Very pleasant.
	Fortunately we now have these computing machines that can keep us busy and occupied inside during the hot weather. Unless, of course, you have a laptop that you work on outside. I find it’s especially nice to be cuddled up to an air conditioner. That arrangement makes life a lot easier.
	Of course, the usual prohibitions still obtain: No drinks near the computer or in the computer room. Nothing like a little lemonade to give a keyboard the willies. It doesn’t look too good on the paper it stains  either. Just thinking about the possibility of a spill into a printer can give one pause. But none of these things will happen, of 
course, to members of our Society all of whom are up to the minute in their safety knowledge. 
The Picnic
	This year we will be devoting our August meeting time to a Society picnic. The aim is to facilitate (ain’t that a good word!) some social interaction. We are, after all, people first and computer users second. Maybe even less than second. Too many of us don’t really have a chance to meet each other on a social basis. But getting acquainted with each other is really important.
Why Acquaintance is So Important.
	When we are acquainted with someone personally, our lives are richer. Not only do we have someone else to share our work and activities with, we have someone to complain to when what we try doesn’t work. The idea is to create a community of people who know each other. With that acquaintance comes a measure of trust. You know you can tell your friend from the Society about some dumb thing you did and ask for help.
	When things go wrong, as they so often do, we can get together over a cup of brew and commiserate. And maybe figure out what to do to get beyond the problem and back to work. It’s no fun having a piece of expensive equipment sitting on a desk and unusable because we can’t figure out what to do next. It’s also clear, I think, from the way things have gone in Help’s Half Hour this year, that there is plenty of knowledge around. Member A has one piece of knowledge, while Member B has a different one. If we’re lucky, we can put those two pieces together to solve a problem. If we’re even luckier, we might be able to add others to our tiny little group and learn even more.
	We’ve seen such helping happen right in front of our eyes. At the July meeting at the Library I “ran” Help’s Half Hour. Jack Greenky was especially helpful to several people on a number of occasions. Other members were, too. We need to remember that we are among friends when we are at our meetings.
	I hope it’s clear now that we are beyond the days when we rely on the Expert for so many of our problems. It’s time to take advantage of that situation. And besides, it’s fun to make new friends.
	Now and then, of course, we run into problems with a particular program or with some idiosyncracy of our machines that requires more knowledge than any of our friends have. Then it’s okay to ask others who are clearly more knowledgeable than we are. That’s one of the things Help’s Half Hour is for. Or the New Users’ Group. We need to remember, though, that any question is quite kosher for Help’s Half Hour. Nobody will laugh at any one of us. If someone does, she or he will be censured for such behavior.
New Society Year
	In September we will “read” again and vote on the new provisions leading to a new Society year, one which will run from September to August. With elections in May. Let me please encourage your affirmative vote.
	Living through the new arrangements is not something that is particularly attractive. It would be nice to look forward to an end of my term in December. But, alas, this cup will not pass away. All the officers are looking forward to some changes that we can together make. We are also looking forward to having it all end,

 finally, a year from this September. The new schedule should allow us a lot more flexibility in programming and in getting people not only on board, as it were, but also in step. That way they will be able to move ahead with confidence when September arrives. It also means that the “old” board members will be around to provide brains that can be picked and extra hands for carrying those other burdens that the new officers didn’t know needed to be carried.
Membership
	We have for the past year and a half devoted our attention to getting ourselves organized for an organization more helpful and useful to its members. But we have made almost no effort to recruit more members. It’s time that we start getting our recruitment show on the road. If you haven’t already, ask for some fliers that you can put in your local library, on the bulletin board at the local supermarket, and any other public place you can think of. Including banks and such.
	Feel free to talk to people about becoming members. Carry some of the Society’s business cards with you to hand out to people you know. Even to people who you are sure would not be interested. Here’s why.
	One of my accountant friends told me about one of his first jobs. He was selling some service or other. He simply didn’t call on certain businesses in town because he was sure that they would not be interested. The service cost more than he thought they would be interested in paying. In his view he was being really considerate of their feelings, not embarrassing them by asking them for more money than they could afford.
	He got his comeuppance when he heard from his boss. Some of those people he intentionally wasn’t calling on were complaining about being ignored. The boss was relatively gentle, but he was also very clear. My friend got the message and started calling on the very people who had complained. He even got some sales, though his primary result in most cases was simply good will.
	I’ve often thought that the story was quite instructive. We often don’t tell people about the Society because we assume that our acquaintance is not interested. And we certainly wouldn’t want to ruin 

our welcome. When we think about it, though, we realize that we can mention the Society and even give our friend a Society business card. When it’s time for a meeting, we can ask our friend if she or he would like to ride to the meeting with us. If the reaction is negative, we can keep offering each month. If we continue to get a negative response, we can ask if our friend would like to be asked any more. If not, we can stop asking. If, however, the person really would like to be asked, even if she or he can’t go, then we need to keep asking. Just like we need to keep filling the coffee cup as it gets nearly empty.
Finally
	Switching gears for a moment, I hope we are all enjoying the summer. It has been long and hot. You may remember that we saw a very noticeable drop-off in attendance starting in April when the weather got nice. Suddenly people could find other things to do of an evening. They’ve continued those things right through the summer. It’s time to bring them back to the Society’s meetings.
	Let’s enjoy the fresh fruits and vegetables that the warm weather brings. And the fun in the water. Picnics and eating outdoors help remind us that friends and family are what it’s all about. Our computers are at their best when they are helping us make, maintain and deepen those connections.
	Till next month, enjoy.

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RCSi Board Meeting Minnutes
July 20, 1999
by Joe Varga
		
	Called to Order at 7:05 pm. In attendance: Joe Pia, Frank Howden, Steve Staub, Tom Bowllan, Sally Springett, Joe Varga, Marie Anderson, Dick Anderson. 
Topic 1. Picnic. This topic was discussed in great detail for almost an hour. The results of this discussion can be found in the Picnic Announcement found on the back page of the Monitor.
Topic 2. St. Steven’s (newsletter assembly location). There seems to have been some snafu with the locks and alarms (although nothing “bad” occurred) after our last newsletter meeting. Due to this occurrence, St. Steven’s has decided not to trust us on their premises alone anymore. Frank is going to speak further with their pastor and what arrangements we can all agree to. We then discussed making different arrangements for the future; everything from a new location, to paying to have it done, to paying for part and doing the rest “by hand.” We came to no final decisions as we have at least one more month at St. Steven’s.
Topic 3. The Club Secretary. Our current secretary has been absentee for a number of months. We have done our best to encourage him to begin attending all meetings again to no avail. We therefore declared the position vacant, brought to the table by Joe, so moved by Frank and seconded by Tom. We now need someone to fill the position for the remainder of the term. Any volunteers would be greatly appreciated. 
Topic 4. 501(c)(3) Status (federal non‑profit status) This topic was skipped due to the absence of Larilyn who is handling this matter. She was on vacation. 
Topic 5. The Monitor at the Maplewood library  It came to Joe Pia’s attention the copy of the Monitor at the Maplewood library was read so much that it was battered to “unuseability” by the end of the month. We made a group agreement to provide two more copies per month to the branch. We will also provide them with many copies of the membership application. We hope that this can be done through the Rundell branch distribution system. After all that we talked about the mailing of the newsletter some more and still came to no conclusions; other than we need to discuss it further. We talked a little about the New User SIG and their situation at Media Play. We decided to have further discussions on this topic at a later date with John McMillan present. A Borders Books employee said that their café is available at a meeting place; but only serve as a SIG meeting place due to the size of the area. 
Topic 6. Program for the Fall was skipped due to time constraints. We agreed to discuss this topic further at another time and the picnic was suggested. 
	The meeting was closed at 9:03pm and I stopped writing at that time although we continued chatting for a while longer.

New User Group Meeting Minutes
July 6, 1999
by John MacMillan

	Summer doldrums must be setting in since only five regulars got to the July New Users Meeting held at the Monroe Developmental center, 620 Westfall Rd.
	The opening discussion centered around Internet contents and searching. One search engine that was mentioned was “Ask Jeeves” where you ask a question rather than trying to guess what words would yield the best response [the url is http://ask.com]. An Internet course at Monroe Community College was suggested as a place to learn about searching techniques. Rochester public library also has a free, one session course on Libra and searching. 
	Squirrelhunt.com was described as a contest that helps improve searching skills when winners disclosed the searches used and why.
	A user contemplating buying an additional larger hard drive asked what stra-tegy should be used when installing. Should the larger drive be made the master and the smaller drive the slave? Did it make any difference which one was the master and which the slave? Jack Greenky indicated that there was no difference and it was generally thought that adding the new drive as the slave would not require repositioning anything already on the machine. Jack went on to say that large games might be uninstalled from the existing drive and everything else backed up before adding the new hardware. After the new drive was installed, it should be formatted which would test for any bad sectors and prove that the installation was successful. Then the games could be reloaded onto the new drive from their original CD’s. He also recommended going to FAT 32 to gain back more space from other files provided that old DOS and Windows 3.x programs were not being used. 
	For people who would like to gain some insight into DOS, Running MS-DOS by Van Wolverton, published in 1984, is a reasonable text and guide. I am sure that the library would have many other books on the subject probably more current than this one which only covers versions through 3.1. Jack Greenky suggested the Dummy series which may have a book on DOS. 
	Newer technology came to the fore as one user described his use of read/writable CD’s. He described the ability to read and write or to overwrite CD’s. This was compared to a ZIP drive which is a smaller, slower version of a removable media even though much larger than the conventional 3.5 inch floppies. Though perhaps not as convenient, both of these are ways of extending storage capacity without adding another hard drive. This led to questions on how to copy from one CD to another.
	There might be problems doing this if the densities and read write speeds were not identical between the two disks and their drives.
	The meeting closed with a myriad of questions from a user who had upgraded from a Tandy to a Pentium laptop with Windows 98. The changes from one environment to the other were so massive that he hardly knew where to begin. His questions ranged from machine capacities, to determining what programs were loaded into the machine; from wondering how to start programs or read CD’s; how to use quick launch and AOL; how to download; and what was the difference between Explorer and Internet Explorer.
	 Some of the easiest questions were answered but since it was a portable, it was recommended that he bring it to a future meeting where he could ask numerous questions and have the answers demonstrated. The meeting adjourned to another room where a machine operating with Windows 98 was used to show answers to just a few of the questions.

The Lighter Side
Poetic PC Truth?

If a packet hits a pocket on a socket on a port,
and the bus is interrupted as a very last resort,
and the address of the memory makes your floppy disk abort,
then the socket packet pocket has an error to report.
If your cursor finds a menu item followed by a dash,
and the double‑clicking icon puts your window in the trash,
and your data is corrupted cause the index doesn’t hash,
then your situation’s hopeless and your system’s gonna crash!

If the label on the cable on the table at your house,
says the network is connected to the butt on on your mouse,
but your packets want to tunnel on another protocol,
that’s repeatedly rejected by the printer down the hall
and your screen is all distorted by the side effects of gauss,
so your icons in the window are as wavy as a souse,
then you might as well reboot and go out with a bang,
cause as sure as I’m a poet, the sucker’s gonna hang!

When the copy of your floppy’s getting 	sloppy on the disk,
and the microcode instructions cause unnecessary risk,
then you have to flash your memory and you’ll want to RAM your ROM.
Quickly turn off the computer and be sure to tell your mom. 

Linguistic Confusion

	A language instructor was explaining to her class that French nouns, unlike their English counterparts are grammatically designated as masculine or feminine.  Things like 'chalk' or 'pencil,' she described, would have a gender association although in English these words were neutral.
	Puzzled, one student raised his hand and asked, "What gender is a computer?" The teacher wasn't certain which it was, and so divided the class into two groups and asked them to decide if a computer should be masculine or feminine.  One group was comprised of the women in the class, and the other of men.  Both groups were asked to give four reasons for their recommendation.
	The group of women concluded that computers should be referred to in the masculine gender because:
•		In order to get their attention, you have to turn them on. 
•		They have a lot of data but are still clueless.
•		They are supposed to help you solve your problems, but half the time they ARE the problem.
•		As soon as you commit to one, you realize that if you had waited a little longer, you could have had a better model.
	The men, on the other hand, decided computers should definitely be referred to in the feminine gender because:
•	No one but their creator understands their internal logic.
•	The native language they use to communicate with other computers is incomprehensible to everyone else.
•	Even your smallest mistakes are stored in long‑term memory for later retrieval.
•	As soon as you make a commitment to one, you find yourself spending half your paycheck on accessories for it.