Willamette Apple Connection Vol7No8

NAA Journal A Publication of Willamette Apple Connection, Inc. An Apple |! & Compatible User Education Group August 1994 OOOPS! by Terry Hart There you are typing away on your new book “The Complete History of Bathtub Rings" when your significant other walks into the room. You look up from your keyboard and give him/her a "come hither" look. (Who can pass that up.) After getting their attention, you gently ask if it might be possible for them to bring you a nice, cool drink. (A little peck on the cheek helps a lot in this situation.) But, when the drink arrives, you make the biggest mistake of all... you zig when they zag and the nice cool drink splashes all over your keyboard. Volume 7 Nurrber 8 Now comes to the subject of this article..."What To Do If Your Keyboard Gets Wet". The first thing to do is turn your computer off. Don't shut it off if the disc drive light is on... wait till it's done. Also, never unplug the keyboard if the computer light is on. Once the power is off, just let it dry out. For coffee spills, let it dry 24 hours. For sugary spills, again let it dry 24 hours. If it was a sugary spill, it shouldn't cause too much problem with the electronics but the keys may have a tendency to stick. The best solution in this case is to take it to a professional to have it cleaned. And next time, maybe get your own nice cool drink. Meeting Notice The next meeting is August 18th, 1994. 7:30 pm No Topic or Demo has been arranged. Contents Keyboard Helpful Hints 1 More bad/good news 3 Q & A by Dr. Ken hh BBS News 6 Classifieds 6 r Willamette Apple Connection, Inc. P.O.Box 18435 Salem, Oregon 97305-8435 Voice phone 838-5870 WAC BBS 363-0861 Board of Directors: President Lawrence E. Tucker 838-5870 Vice President Neal Layton 370.9527 Secretary Joe Durst Treasurer VACANT Director-at-Large David L. Weiss WAC Journal Editor Neal Layton WAC BBS SYSOP Neal Layton The regular membership meeting is held on the third Thursday of the month, with a start time of 7:30 p.m.. The meeting is held at: “the computer store" , 444 Ferry Street, Salem, OR. The general public is invited to attend. leetings - B Directs: The Board of Directors meeting is held before the regular meeting or as otherwise arranged. Annual Membershi es Individual member $15.00 The WAC BBS is currently provided at no charge, however if you would like to make a donation to keep the BBS running, contact: Neal Layton P.O. Box 18435, Salem, Oregon 97305 — The WAC Joumal is an independent publication not affiliated or otherwise associated with or sponsored or sanctioned by Apple Computer, Inc. The Opinions, statements, positions and views stated herein are those of the author(s) or publisher and are not intended to be the opinions, statements, Positions or views of Apple Computer, Inc. Apple, the Apple logo, and other Apple trademarks are the property of Apple Computer, Inc. Authors should submit their articles in hard copy , 3 1/2 inch disk or send it via madem to the editor at the above number by the first of the month. Copy should be submitted in ANY form you wish. | can fead any format from any computer types so if you have something that looks good send it in. The WAC Joumal is published monthly. Contributing writers are needed, especially for the Who's Who column. This is a member written column dealing with what each individual is doing with their computer, what kind of computer and programs you use, and how long youve had your computer. | can accept your article at any time for this column. Call me! This newsletter was produced ‘Entirely’ on an Apple /GS using the following software and hardware products: Appleworks GSv1.1, Appleworksv4.0, Pointless, _Inwords, Quikie scanner and printed on a Hewlett Packard HP DeskJet 550C. ‘The following official messages are from America Online: Dear Member, ‘The members of America Online Appke Il edition are the foundation upon which the entire America Online service has been built. Starting with the Taunch of the service as AppleLink Personal Edition in 1988, you have helped us build an online community that now numbers almost 1 million members. 1 want to thank each of you for your contribution, your support and your feedback over the years. ‘The computing industry has changed dramatically since those first days of online commumications. Apple Computer, Inc. has withdrawn from the Apple I business over the past few years. Many major software vendors have stopped supporting the product over this time period. We have been able to continue our support of our Apple Il service s0 far by incorporating it into the America Online product. ‘Now we find, with great regret, that we simply can no bnger support the Apple II service. It has ‘become commercially impossible for us to properly maintain the product. Many of you I'm sure have noticed a diminished level of product quality in the Jast few months. Without technical support from the industry, we are not able to add new services, fix existing problems, or prevent new problems. ‘Therefore we have made the sad decision to discontinue the Apple II edition of America Online as of November 1, 1904. In the weeks leading up to this date features of the service you have used in ‘the past may become unavailable or non-fictional, ‘We would like to thank each of you for your long and continued support and, if at all possible, keep you as part of our online community. Ifyou now have the ability to use America Online on another operating systam (PC-DOS, Windows or Macintosh) we invite you to convert your membership to one of these other systems. For details on the last month of service for the Apple TI Edition of America Ontine, important dates and billing infomation, please read the other articles on this menu. We have enjoyed serving you ari hope to continue to do so onone of our other platiomns. Sincerely, Steve Case Important Dates ‘The following are the important dates regarding the last service period for Apple Il America Online. Your last monthly {ee will be billed to you in September, 1904, based on your usual billing date. No monthly fees will be incurred after October 1, 1904, You will continue to accrue hourly fees until October 31, 1904. ‘The last day of service will be October 31, 1994. ‘Your Apple II account will be automatically canceled as of November 1, 1904. Ifyou wish to transfer your screen name to a new America Online account, you must do so within 6 months. Ifyou now have the ability to use America Online on. @ new computer we invite you to open a new America Online account. When you order your America Online software lit you will receive a free tial membership which inchides: - Ten free hours to explore America Online. Free time must be used within 30 days of your first signon. - No monthly fee for the first month - Unlimited use of the Member Service area To order your free America Online software kt, ‘please call 1-800-827-6364. We ‘will send you everything you need to try America Online absolitely free. ‘America Online has the following system Tequiremerts: For Macintosh (v2.6): System 6.06 or later 2 MB of ‘System Ram 3 MB free Hard Drive space For PC-DOS (v1.6): A PC/XT or higher with 612k or more of memory, a hard drive and an EGA or VGA. monitor. For Windows (v1.6): 386 PC Windows 3.1 4 meg or more memory VGA Monitor Mouse Hard Drive All versions of America Online require a working, ‘standard phone line and a Hayes or Hayes- 3 compatible modem. THE PROGRAM CLINIC (NO. 3) by Ken Franklin, MD. Courtesy of Club Apple UG. Charleston, W.Va. Hello, and do you know where your Easter basket is? The sun is finally here, and Daylight Savings Time will prevent my dog from whining to go out at 4am. Ihope. The extra rest should make me strong enough to answer your questions . . . I'm going to talk this month about two things that should make ANY user a power user. This information works for any computer, and I guarantee that if you follow them, you'll save at least one hour of time and 200 calories of frustration over the coming year. You're welcome. GEE-WHIZ COMPUTER SECRET NUMBER 1: THE THREE RULES. Rule #1: Remember who's the boss and who's the tool. You are in charge, The computer is your tool. If something is not going well, many people shart whining, "Well, gee, I'm sure if I were smarter, the computer would stoop to Processing my data" WRONG ATTITUDE! If your program is not helping you, then don't use it! Or, if you feel you must use it, then cuss it out and threaten to fire it. Remember, you are the boss. It is the computer's job to help you (and there is a grievance process to handle obstinate computers, which I'l reveal later in this column). Rule #2; Back it up. If you have only one copy of a program, or a data file, you are going to lose it. Virtually every computer user I know has lost four hours of work over a lost file -- including myself. And Jet me tell you, it’s a painful experience. ‘So, make an extra copy and keep it ina separate place. If you have two copies of your work, and they are disks side-by-side, a diet soda poured by your 6-year-old will take them both out at once. I back up my hard drive once a month, and also have copies of my important data files in a shoebox across the room. Rule #3: Never stick a disk in your drive unless you know where it's been. Viruses are real. Viruses destroy disk files. Although there are very few viruses in the Apple II world, they still exist. The only way a virus can get into your files is to get there from someone's bulletin board or floppy disk. The more you copy files from uncertain sources, the more likely you are to get a virus. So, unless you bought the file, or downloaded it from a reputable source (like GEnie, America Online, CompuServe, or your user group library), you are betting EVERY FILE YOU OWN that you trust your source. How many friends do you have that are worth that bet? GEE-WHIZ COMPUTER SECRET NUMBER 2: WHAT TO DO WHEN THE THANG DONT qWORK How many of you have hit a snag in using a Program, then spent SEVEN HOURS trying to get it to work - and failing? Come on, my hand is raised - be honest with me. I thought so. Don'tcha hate it when that happens? And ‘worse, isn't it a bear getting those teeth marks sanded off your keyboard? ‘Well, here is a sure-fire means of resolving any problem in UNDER THIRTY MINUTES. No, it doesn't involve an 800 number or a money order for $39.95, Just follow these five steps, and make sure you spend no more than five minutes on each step. Use an oven timer if you have to - but any time over five minutes you spend is simply self-perpetuating frustration. STEP ONE: SAVE YOUR WORK. That way, no matter how you experiment, your work is recoverable, even if the machine crashes. (What if you can't save your work? Remember RULE TWO and go pet your backup smugly.) STEP TWO. LOOK FOR ONSCREEN HELP. Most good programs have a Help Ikey. In Appleworks, it's Open-Apple-?, In some Programs, it's Open-apple-H. In some, it's Esc. Use it, and see if help has your answer. Remember, five minutes maximum at this, then move on. STEP THREE: LOOK AT THE MANUAL. No, don't read the whole thing; even I have my Principles. It's against the Hacker Manifesto to read manuals before trying a program. Just scan the index and table of contents, and see if your problem is there. That should take less than five minutes. STEP FOUR: FIDDLE. Press Esc. Press every key in tum. Press every key in tum with the Open-apple key down. Press every key with the Control key down. Double click in random points on the screen. If something gets started you don't like, you can always use your saved copy, remember? STEP FIVE: CALL A FRIEND. This is the one most folks have trouble with. ‘Tl sound mentally deficient’, they say. No you won't; the person you call has called someone else before, and is grateful for the chance to repay the debt. You can call a fellow user in your group, you can log on GEnie and America Online and use the online conferences; or you can post a message on a bulletin board. NOW DO SOMETHING ELSE. If your friend isn't answering right now, you can at least feel like SOMETHING is being done. Tum off your machine and hug something, or run another program, or take a walk. You've either fixed your problem, or given it to someone else. And no unsightly teeth marks. That's all the time we have this month, folks, (This column is copyrighted 1992 by Ken Franklin. All rights reserved. Quit sniffing the table legs, Lucky, let's go outside. . J Classified: Wanted-Buy Sell-Trade Do you have some old hardware or software just laying around waiting to be used again by someone? This space could be yours. Classified ads are free to Paid members! Larry Tucker still has a //GS for sale, any one interested should give Larry a call. Two of our members recently bought new Macintosh computers, they are: David Weiss & Joe Durst. This isn't really intended to be a roasting area but I just have to say it, "Boooo000c00!". But seriously if you have a need for a //c or need a certian program they may have one they are willing to sell Or if you have a question about the new MAC's ['m sure they'd be willing to give you some info on their new machines. They may be even willing to give you some help on an Apple // program. But you'll never know until you call. . BBS News By Neal Layton Here's part of a list of Apple // Bulletin Boards that has been on the intemet for all of the millions of users to see. The WAC BBS is even on it Meaning anyone who looks up such info on the internet plus all A2-Central on disk subscribers have thiis info. The fourth part will be printed next month. These are all Appie // Bulletin Boards. Intemational Apple II BBS List, April 1994 Compiled by Mike Shecket Additions, corrections, comments to: Mike_Shecket@tap colum.fnet org (Futurenet) shecket@delphi.com (internet at large) Updated 3/8/94 Name Location Phone Number ACES W. Palm Beach Chapter West Palm Beach, FL 407-483-8426 Pro-Carolina Orlando, FL. 407-858-9937 ‘Starkist ‘Orlando, FL 407-859-999 Apple Byte GS. San Jose, CA 408-578-3201 The GS Express ‘San Jose, CA 408-629-9846 Pro-Haven Bryan, TX 408-822-5534 The Electrical Diralect Hempstead, TX 400-826-4087 ‘The Trumvirate Baltimore, MD 410-486-9812 Lightning Systems Mukwonago, WI 414-363-4282 Veihalla ‘San Francisco,CA = 415-221-4370 The Apple Empire ‘San Francisco,CA 415-776-3242 The Boycott BBS ‘Treasure Island, CA 415-989-3654 ‘The Motherboard San Francisco,CA 415-991-4832 Pro-Darma Toronto, ON, Canada 416-739-6698 Corrosion of Conformity Mansfield, MO 417-924-8028 ProGab Mansfield, OH 419-522-9221 WAC BES Salem, OR ‘503-363-0661 Pro-Gallup Gallup, NM ‘508-722-9613 Manzana Albuquerque, NM. 506-839-9043 Lost Gonzo BBS. Mankato, MN 507-625-8321 ‘The Playground! Massachusetts 508-343-9163 S-bit Apple User Group BBS _—_Livermore, CA 510-294-8062 House of Games Alameda, CA. 510-623-6306 Pro-Christ Fremont, CA 510-791-1370 Infinity's Edge San Ramon, CA 510-820-9401 ProLep Austin, TX 512-288-2114 Pro-Smof Austin, TX 812-467-7317 Wunderland Austin, TX $12-472-0544 Pro-Party Corpus Christi, TX 512-882-1899 Even Flow Austin, TX 512-892-6264 STIX Corpus Christ, TX 512-992-4855 The Apple Corps Cincinnati, OH 513-683-0445 Eagle-Eyes' Emporium Quebec, Canada 914-337-8844 Adantis BBS Quebec, Canada 514.342-6774 Crazy Al's Outhouse Quebec, Canada 514-481-5440 Membership Application Willamette Apple Connection, Inc. An Apple Il & Compatible User Group P.O.Box 18435 Salem, OR 97305-8435 Voice 838-5870 BBS 363-0861 va Name Address City State 9) NS ] \— va Please lst computer(s) and software you use regularly: NN — ~~ Please list areas of interest (ie. DTP, graphics, spreadsheets .etc.): J\ Membershp fee is $15.00 annually. Please make your checks payable to: Willamette Apple Connection, Inc. « USER GROUE C-O-N-N-E-C-T-+0-N Willamette Apple Connection, Inc. ; P.O.Box 18435 Salem, OR 97305-8435 TO: