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Schedule of HUG Activities
1. September 2002 HUG Meetings
- September 10th [2nd Tuesday] - General Membership Meeting 6:30~9:00 PM
- September 15th [3rd Sunday] - Computer Workshop 2:00~4:00 PM
- September 19th [3rd Thursday] - Executive Board Meeting 6:00 PM
2. September 2002 Computer Shows *
- September 7th-8th [Sat-Sun] - Maryland State Fairgrounds at Timonium, MD
- September 14th-15th [Sat-Sun] - Allentown Fairgrounds
- September 21th-22th [Sat-Sun] - Valley Forge Convention Center
- September 29th [Sun] - Sheraton Reading
- No Harrisburg Computers Shows in September
3. October 2002 HUG Meetings
- October 8th [2nd Tuesday] - General Membership Meeting 6:30~9:00 PM
- October 17th [3rd Thursday] - Executive Board Meeting 6:00 PM
- October 20th [3rd Sunday] - Computer Workshop 2:00~4:00 PM
4. October 2002 Computer Shows *
- October 5th [Sat] - York Expo Center
- October 12th-13th [Sat-Sun] - Maryland State Fairgrounds at Timonium, MD
- October 19th-20th [Sat-Sun] - Valley Forge Convention Center
- October 26th [Sat] - Lebanon Valley Expo Center
[See Computer Shows section, below]
- No Harrisburg Computers Shows in October
* Remember to always check the
MarketPro
web site show schedule for possible
last-minute cancelations before traveling to computer shows.
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HUG Meetings
1. HUG General Membership Meetings
Notes from the August 13th General Membership Meeting --
The subject for our August 13th meeting was "Air Traffic Control" and our speaker
was Bob Smith, who works in the control tower at the Harrisburg International Airport in
Middletown (FAA designation: "MDT").
Bob had a well prepared PowerPoint slide show of the things he need to illustrate. He gave
the 20 people in attendance a virtual tour of the MDT Control Tower and demonstrated the
equipment used to control and coordinate the air traffic within his geographic area of
responsibility, which extends over Dauphin County and several contiguous counties and includes
other smaller airports such as the one in Lancaster.
He told us how the airspace to the east of MDT is handled by the Philadelphia Control Tower, the
airspace to west by by the Pittsburgh Control Tower, the airspace to the North by the New York
Control tower, and the airspace to the south by the Baltimore Control Tower.
Radar Scopes, transponders, computers, and other equipment that air traffic controllers use
to control air traffic were both explained and illustrated in the PowerPoint demonstration with
excellent digital pictures. Bob credited Mark Burkheimer, our HUG 1st V.P., with all the
photography. [You may recall some of Mark's past presentations about digital photography.]
Bob explained the traffic patterns for the two Harrisburg airports (MDT and Capital City),
as well as the Lancaster, Pittsburgh, and Philadelphia airports.
He pointed out how airspace is 3-dimentional with different altitude levels alloted to
different types of aircraft and different flight operations.
Once all the requisite background information was covered, Bob gave us an example of how a typical
flight was handled from its taxi, takeoff, climb and cruse to 30K feet from MDT; handed off
to the Pittsburgh Control Tower; then its cruse through Pittsburgh airspace; and, finally,
its decent, landing, and taxi at Pittsburgh.
A responsible air traffic control center observed the flight at all times.
Bob's then took questions from the audience, which included at least two members with piloting
experience. The presentation concluded with applause from all those present. It is certainly
reassuring to know that skilled professionals such as Bob Smith are watching over our journeys
as we travel by air over North America.
The meeting broke up around 9:15 PM.
Coming up in September --
The topic for the September 10th General Membership Meeting will be
"How to Give A Presentation" by Dennis Mumma and John Reinhardt.
Various presentation software packages such as Microsoft's PowerPoint (Windows), Corel's
Presentation (Windows), and the K-Desktop's KPresenter (Linux) will be covered.
John will give the talk about how to do a prepared demonstration and Dennis will explain
the technical aspects of preparing a presentation slide show that includes sounds, music,
video images, and movies.
If you currently give presentations at work, school, or other activities,
or if you think that you may be called upon to give a presentation in the future,
then the September meeting is definitely one that you won't want to miss.
Dennis and John will certainly have some valuable information and tips that you can use
in your next presentation.
So be sure to attend with a friend -- especially if your friend needs to give presentations!
Remember, General Membership Meetings are held on the SECOND TUESDAY of each
month, starting at 6:30 PM, in the Skyline View Church, 7733 Hillcrest Avenue, Harrisburg.
Share the experience and bring a friend.
2. HUG Computer Workshops
The HUG Computer Workshop (formerly known as the DOS/Windows SIG), where
beginners' questions are answered and problem computers are analyzed for free,
is held on the THIRD SUNDAY of each month, from 2:00~4:00 PM.
If you are new to our group, or you
would just like a little coaching in downloading files, or using Adobe Acrobat
Reader, or if you need to have some of techno-speak decoded, then this is where
you want to be.
If you are having hardware or software problems or would like application help,
by all means come out. We will continue to handle these problems one-on-one in
separate areas of the large, comfortable meeting hall.
We have limited supplies of computer components for sale at the workshops. Items
are mainly for 486 and Pentium I computers. See the "For Sale" section
of this newsletter for details.
Notes from the Computer Workshop -- Sunday August 18th
Ten members showed up. Some members had hardware problems which Dennis Mumma
assisted with. Wes Samsel, Lou Samsel and John Reinhardt evaluated about 12-15
computers that were donated. All units lacked hard drives and many lacked processors
and memory sticks. The mainboards were removed from their cases, all processors
and memory (if any) were stripped out. Floppy drives were removed. Only one
case, two mainboards, a few sticks of memory were deemed reusable. These items
were placed into the HUG inventory of spare parts. One member claimed a few parts
to use in a computer demonstration that he was giving to Boy Scouts.
The Workshop closed at 5:30 PM.
3. Linux SIG Meetings
The Linux SIG (HAL) is held concurrently with the HUG Computer Workshop at 2:00
in the Skyline View Church. If you are an experienced Linux user and wish to
participate in a Linux discussion session, or if you are want to learn what Linux
is about, then this SIG is for you. Guests are welcome.
Notes from the Linux SIG Meeting -- Sunday August 18th
Norm Wagner and Derek Price worked with a Linux Computer that
had Linux Mandrake release 8.1 installed but had no functional sound.
Norm suggested that an additional monthly Linux (only) meeting be scheduled.
If anyone has any desire to attend a Linux only meeting notify Norm at
normwag@comcast.com with your comments.
4. HUG Executive Board Meetings
Thursday, September 19th is HUG's Executive Board Meeting at
Little Joe's Pizza (formerly Brian's Pizza) in the Swatara
Square Shopping Center across from the east shore Wal-Mart. The center is bordered
by Route 322, Mushroom Hill Road, and Grayson Road. Board meetings are always open
to the public. Here is where we handle the club's monthly business -- so there
are no demonstrations nor hands-on help. But if you would like the club to benefit
from your input on policies and procedures or you'd like to volunteer, then this
is the place to be. Meetings start at 6:00 PM and run about an hour or until the
club's business is completed.
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Computer Shows
Good News! Our treasurer, John Reinhardt, is presently arranging to have a table
reserved for HUG at the upcoming Computer Show in Lebanon on Saturday October 26th.
This will be a one-day show. John and Lou Samsel will man
the table but they still need a few more willing and able volunteers. Are you up to
the task? If so, email (or call) John or Lou.
There are several benefits in helping at HUG computer show table.
One, you get FREE admission to the show.
Two, you frequently get a "vendor's discount"
from the many vendors at the show - sometimes 10% on the more expensive items such as
drives, processors, memory, cards, software, etc.
Three, we take breaks from the HUG table so you still have the opportunity to walk
around, shop, and enjoy the show.
Four, you learn something interesting and useful from the other HUG members and the
helpful vendors at every show.
Five, you get the satisfaction of helping someone who knows even less about computers
than you do by answering their easy questions - that's satisfaction and an ego boosting
experience.
So how about it?
Send either John or
Lou an e-mail message
now and they will remind you in October so
you don't forget and miss a great computer show. What's more, the Lebanon show
has the best food of any computer show, at low prices, too!
We will have a table at the Harrisburg
Shows when, and if, they resume. Until then, we suggest that you attend the York Shows
and Lebanon Shows.
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HUG News
1. Members Not Receiving Meeting Notices --
Dennis Mumma sends out e-mail notices, as a reminder, before meeting. Many members
have reported that they do not receive them. This is because members, on the e-mail
list, have disregarded Dennis's invitations.
To get on the list do one of two things. Either: 1) Contact (e-mail) the list manager,
Dennis Mumma with your request for an
invitation and then reply to the invitation when it arrives.
Or: 2) go to the groups' yahoo! web page at
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/hucg and
sign up as a new user.
Once you are signed up you can also participate in the Club Chat Room held every Wednesday
from 8-10 PM online. Here, you can get all your computer questions answered.
You say you didn't know about the announcements or the Club Chat Room? That's because you
didn't sign up! So do it NOW!
2. HUG Elections Are Coming This Fall --
This Fall, besides electing a new gov'na, you will also be electing HUG officers. So think
about which office that you want to fill and let any HUG Board Member know of your intentions.
I promise that no present officer will feel bad if you aspire to his office - the incumbent
will look forward toward serving HUG in another capacity.
So, will the brave volunteers for all positions, please come forward and be recognized.
3. List of Links to Microsoft Sites Needed --
The last section of this newsletter contains links to interesting and informative Linux sites.
There are no Microsoft Windows sites listed -- I know this because some of you have told me so.
This is not an oversite. If anyone wishes, you can prepare a list of addresses (first) and site
names (second) for whatever Microsoft Windows sites that you think the other readers of this
newsletter might be interested in visiting. No commercial ($$$) sites, please. We're not providing
free advertising without quid pro quo. E-mail this list to
LouSamsel.
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Important Reminders
1. Your Current Email Address --
If you want to continue receiving a HUG e-mail announcement then you must keep your
e-mail address current in our data base. You must provide us with your correct and current
address and inform us of any changes. The best way to do this is to e-mail Lou Samsel and
John Reinhardt from the address you wish to use. (Please place "HUG" at the
beginning of the e-mail's Subject Field.)
Lou Samsel -- HUG President at:
lou.samsel@pa.net
John Reinhardt -- HUG Treasurer at:
jreinhardt@state.pa.us
Snailmail to the HUG official address works too.
This eliminates typographical errors at both ends as well as handwriting misinterpretations.
If you are planning on leaving one ISP for another, we recommend overlapping them for a few
months so we have time to change your address without our getting "invalid address"
messages when we send you announcements.
Remember, this is your responsibility.
2. Donations to HUG --
Modern and usable software and hardware donations are appreciated. No DOS software nor
386, 486 hardware, please. There is just no use for it.
Donations may be dropped off at any HUG meeting. Your donation may be tax deductible for
Federal Income Tax purposes -- see our Treasurer, John, for details.
3. Meeting Locations --
Remember, General Membership Meetings are held on the SECOND TUESDAY of each month
from 6:30~9:00 PM in the Skyline View Church, 7733 Hillcrest Avenue, Harrisburg.
Skyline View Church is on Jonestown Road (Rt. 22) just 6/10 of a mile west of Rt. 39.
It's on the south side of the highway, next to a Fulton Bank and across the highway
from a Getty-Mart. Share the experience and bring a friend.
Workshops are held on the THIRD SUNDAY of each month from 2:00~4:00 PM the above location.
Visitors with problems are welcome but members are given priority with assistance.
HUG Executive Board Meetings are held the THIRD THURSDAY of each month at 6:00 PM
in Little Joe's Pizza [formerly Brian's Pizza]
in the Swatara Square Shopping Center across from the east shore Wal-Mart. The Swatara
Square is bordered by Route 322, Mushroom Hill Road, and Grayson Road. All current
members are welcome.
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Membership Renewal
Membership in HUG has many advantages including: admission to all HUG meetings including SIGs,
elegibility for door prizes (when available) at General Membership Meetings,
priority over non-members for free technical assistance with computer related problems at
all HUG Computer Workshops, elegibility to volunteer to work at the HUG Computer Show Table
and win annual volunteers' prizes, discounts on all "For Sale"
items, and other benefits that I can't think of at the moment.
To renew your HUG Membership, please snailmail your $15 check, made out to "Harrisburg pc
User Group", to the HUG Official Mailing Address:
Harrisburg pc User Group (HUG)
Attn: Membership Director
5 Sycamore Lane
Palmyra, PA 17078-2839
Alternately, you may bring your check or cash, for $15, to any HUG Meeting.
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Wanted or For Sale
1. Newsletter Editor Wanted --
Lou Samsel and Dennis Mumma are filling in as newsletter editors until
a volunteer for this position comes foreward. This position would look good on
anyone's resume. You have the opportunity to style and provide content as you
choose. Anyone interested should contact Lou Samsel.
2. Newsletter Writers Wanted --
Anyone who has an idea or submission for this newsletter should contact
Lou Samsel. Here is your chance to appear in print. As with the editor
position, published writing experience would look good on your resume.
3. Items for Sale --
We have the following items for sale to active HUG members, only.
[Unclaimed items are available to non-members at slightly higher prices.]
All items are used, unless othewise indicated. All items are believed to be
in good working condition. Anything that proves to be nonworking after
purchase may be returned for replacement or refund within 60 days of purchase.
Free items have, of course, no warranty. No additional claims as to suitability,
performance, or reliablilty are offered. [The stuff's dirt cheap, after all!]
These items are offered while existing supplies last.
- Hard Drives, 500 Mb, used - $5.00
- Floppy Drives, 3 1/2", Generic Style - $3.00
- Floppy Drives, 3 1/2", IBM Style (no seperate power connector) - free
- Processor Chips, Intel 486, various speeds - $3.00
- Memory, 72-pin SIMMs, 4 MB - $1.00
- Memory, 72-pin SIMMs, 8 MB - $5.00
- Memory, 72-pin SIMMs, ECC (IBM type), 8 MB - $1.00
- Cases with power supplies, AT style, various manufacturers - free
- Software: MS J++ with Windows NT 4.0 (new - last one) - $10.00
- Cables, floppy drive, flat ribbon type - $2.00
- Cables, IDE hard drive, flat ribbon type - $3.00
- Cables, SCSI drive, flat ribbon type - $1.00
For sale items may be purchased at any workshop. Please call (or
better yet, email) Lou Samsel well in advance to assure availability.
The proceeds from sales are placed in the HUG treasury.
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List of HUG Officers and Support Members
HUG Officers
- President, Editor, Lou Samsel
(lou.samsel@pa.net)
Harrisburg 564-8273
- First Vice-president, Mark Berkheimer
(mark@panetwork.com )
Hummelstown 583-2148
- Second Vice-president, Hazen Meek
(hazen.meek@verizon.net)
Harrisburg 652-5129
- Treasurer John W. Reinhardt
(jreinhardt@state.pa.us )
Palmyra 838-5085
- Secretary, Joseph Ronemus
(joseph1618@aol.com )
Camp Hill 737-0364
- Trustee, Wes Samsel
(w.w.samsel@worldnet.att.net)
Harrisburg 541-0486
- Trustee, Dennis Mumma
(netwizzz@earthlink.net)
Mechanicsburg 796-0955
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Support Members
- WebMaster, Dennis Zellers
(dzellers@paonline.com)
Annville, 867-4278
- VisualBASIC/Vis ualC/C++/.NET
Ralph Corigliano
(ess@attbbs.com)
Denver, CO
- Win 98/SE/ME/MSIE/XP +/More
Dennis Mumma
(netwizzz@earthlink.net)
Mechanicsburg 796-0955
- Linux SIG, Lou Samsel
(lou.samsel@pa.net)
Harrisburg 564-8273
- OS/2, Dan Grabenstein
Harrisburg 652-1607
- Windows(all), SQL/ODBC, Networking
Justin Zellers
(j_zellers@yahoo.com)
- GFA BASIC Programming, Ed Smith
Harrisburg 545-3037
- Database, Networking, Bill Chen
(aimaim@usa.net )
Harrisburg 540-9566
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Links to Other Sites
1. Featured Site for September -- ImageMagick®
ImageMagick® 5.4.9
is a robust collection of tools and libraries offered under a usage
license
to read, write, and manipulate an image in many image
formats
(over 87 major formats) including popular formats like TIFF, JPEG,
PNG, PDF, PhotoCD, and GIF.
With ImageMagick you can create images
dynamically, making it suitable for Web applications. You can also
resize, rotate, sharpen, color reduce, or add special effects to an
image and save your completed work in the same or differing image
format. Image processing operations are available from the command
line, as well as through C, C++, Perl, or Java programming
interfaces.
Here are just a few examples
of what ImageMagick can do.
You can access ImageMagick functions directly from
the command line using the ImageMagick tools
convert,
mogrify,
montage,
composite, or
identify .
You can use the display
program to interactively manipulate your images or
animate
an image sequence from a graphical panel.
Finally you have access to
the various image manipulation methods directly from the most popular
application development environment:
Perl,
C++,
C,
Python, or
Java.
These programs, and much more, are discussed in detail at the
ImageMagick web site.
ImageMagick is quite portable, and compiles under
almost every general purpose operating system that runs on 32-bit or
64-bit CPUs. ImageMagick is available for virtually any Unix or
Unix-like system, including Linux. It also runs under
Windows
'95 and later ('95, '98, ME, NT 4.0, 2000, and XP), Macintosh (MacOS
9 and 10), VMS, and OS/2.
ImageMagick source and binaries are available from a large number of ftp and http
mirror sites.
Binary packages
are provided for a variety of operating systems. Besides the mirror
sites, developers may obtain the ImageMagick source code via
anonymous CVS. The entire source and
binary distribution is available for order on
CD.
Installation instructions are available
here
for building ImageMagick from source code under Unix, VMS, Windows,
and Macintosh.
ImageMagick is copyright
ImageMagick Studio LLC, a non-profit organization. ImageMagick is
available for free, may be used to support both open and proprietary
applications, and may be redistributed without fee.
2. Other Sites --
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