Summer (in this part of the world) continues on. Amazing, how fast time seems to fly by! As your year-2000 moves forward, I hope you are taking the time to document and save on your PC -- and, share with your family/friends a summary and some pictures of your activities.
I wish you good Home-Use PC'ing!
With regards to the last two month's comments on work being done updating the "Getting Started with and Using America Online" lab exercise (Lab 10 from SCScompA): I have placed an extract of the lab on the download portion of this Web page. If interested, after you download the extracted material and could use the entire lab exercise, send me a request and I will mail you a printed copy of the lab. Cost, in that case, is an additional $5.00 USA for shipping and handling, bringing a total cost for the lab/mailing to $15.00 USA. Cost for an entire lab that is downloaded as shareware is $10.00 USA.
This month I received a comment/query resulting from my Web SCScompA Web page that I want to share with you:
Once I got past the first two labs I found that the material ends up looking "more advanced" than an "introductory person" would like to think the material and the challenge should be.
And, yes, I agree that the discussions in the newsletters gravitate to areas that require, again, "more advanced"-type discussions than an "introductory person" would like to discuss (backup, scanning, basic web-page use).
However, I am convinced that ANY home user benefits from the areas I mention in the newsletters. For the labs, I am lucky in that I have access to some relatively less-PC-oriented-than-am-I people who wade through the labs with my help. That gives me an ongoing "reality check".
I am quite sure, with patience, any home user WHATEVER THE HOME USER'S AGE! will benefit from getting exposure to the labs and discussions. Yes, they may need help as they go along -- but, there is such help inside the average family together with some support from the Web/SCScompA-type assistance companies/services.
My primary target audience: Home Users and assistance to them. It turns out that definition of a home user is a debatable term and some of the matters I address end up being matters that all computer users/companies consider and act upon -- that is simply the nature of computers!
We continue forward.
Thanks, again, for taking the time to wade through our Web page.
Contact me regarding any matter in this newsletter that causes you concern or you want to otherwise discuss.
Regards,
Dave Shogren
eMail to: SCScompA@aol.com
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Comments Regarding Applications and Experiences with those Applications Recently Used on my Home PCs |
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Once in awhile it is of value to look back on recent use of your PCs and, in turn, briefly summarize items that came about. One value in doing this is to compare your use of the PC "today" with what you may have identified during an earlier period, to see if you are taking full advantage of your PC or if you could use an update in either the application or support for an application. Let me know what applications you use the most as compared to the following. I am sure you have some good ideas and experiences to share!
Recent Applications Used on our Home PC and Selected Comments:
Summary list of software and PC-matters I use on my PC: Note: The total (one-time) cost of the software for the following list is around $300 plus an extra approximately $200 for Windows 2000 if you take my advice and have a dual-boot PC with Windows 2000 as your primary operating system. Cost for America Online unlimited use is currently $21.95 USA unlimited use plus any telephone call cost. The $21.95 cost can be reduced (for example, AARP members receive $2 per month discount). In addition you can choose a lower per-month rate (around $9 per month) and pay by the hour's use after a few hours per month until you find out you need an "unlimited" number of hours to be connected with America Online.
Although there are other applications I use during a month, the above are the primary applications I use on my PC. As I mentioned, the above applications cost approximately $300 one time cost and end up have a "lifetime" of at least three years. Not a bad investment! Windows 2000 adds about $200 one-time-cost and I recommend that, even for a home use environment. The America Online (my cost is currently $19.95 USA per month; local telephone calls are "free" in Raleigh) cost is an ongoing expense. I recommend you take the time to write down -- and, cost out -- the applications you use regularly on your PC. The information can assist you in upcoming planning matters related to your home PC. Let me know how your list of commonly used applications on your home computer compares to the above. Don't hesitate to contact scscompa@aol.com with any comments on the above or for any related discussion. |
Update on comments related to PC configurations aimed at being a primary home computer. |
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If you have seen the SCScompA November 1999 Newsletter you saw there that I configured three PCs that SCScompA would recommend for a home user. One was configured from the Dell home page, one configured from an IBM mailing to stockholders, and one from a local PC dealer in Raleigh (Intrex Raleigh). As I mentioned in that newsletter and I continue to hold as a premise: If you, as a home user, have a budget of $3000 USA for your primary home PC: Good! With that, you will end up with a fine machine that will service you for a number of years. I believe this is still a good guideline. $3000 USA? Yes, $3000. When you add up the cost of your PC, your software, your printer, and your scanner: $3000 USA is a good guideline. With this said, I fully agree you can get a very good PC for less than the above-discussed price. However, for your primary home use PC, software, printer, and scanner: Use $3000 USA as a guideline. In the following, I summarize the PC system as of the November, 1999 SCScompA Newsletter (please refer to that for particulars) followed by a configuration put together with information from July, 2000. |
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The November 1999 Dell configuration was:
Total cost in November 1999 was configured at $2,953.47. This did not include about $300 for additional software such as Microsoft PowerPoint, PaintShop Pro, Hoyle Classic Card Games or something similar. It also does not contain approximately $200 for Windows 2000 and dual-boot set up with Windows 98. |
A configured early-August 2000 Dell was:
Total cost in early August 2000 was configured at $2,922.73. This did not include about $300 for additional software such as Microsoft PowerPoint, PaintShop Pro, Hoyle Classic Card Games or something similar. It also does not contain approximately $200 for Windows 2000 and dual-boot set up with Windows 98. |
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Comments regarding the above: As you can see, the PC configured in August, 2000, was configured with additional memory (256 Mb instead of 128 MB). This is an additional cost of $200 that could be saved if desired (As of today, Windows -- including Windows 2000 -- runs quite well on 128 MB. However, in anticipation that applications that evolve as the years move forward, SCScompA recommends 256 Mb if the cost keeps the system near the $3000 USA budget). |
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The November 1999 IBM configuration was:
Total cost in November 1999 was configured at $2,533.76. This did not include about $300 for additional software such as Microsoft PowerPoint, PaintShop Pro, Hoyle Classic Card Games or something similar. It also does not contain approximately $200 for Windows 2000 and dual-boot set up with Windows 98. |
The August 2000 IBM configuration was:
Total cost in August 2000 was configured at $2,740.44. This did not include about $300 for additional software such as Microsoft PowerPoint, PaintShop Pro, Hoyle Classic Card Games or something similar. It also does not contain approximately $200 for Windows 2000 and dual-boot set up with Windows 98. |
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Comments regarding the above: Again, the PC configured in August, 2000, was configured with additional memory (256 Mb instead of 128 MB). This is an additional cost of $209 that could be saved if desired (As of today, Windows -- including Windows 2000 -- runs quite well on 128 MB. However, in anticipation that applications that evolve as the years move forward, SCScompA recommends 256 Mb if the cost keeps the system near the $3000 USA budget). The "Added by SCScompA" items shown above are purchased and installed at the local PC store rather than purchased directly from IBM. |
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The November 1999 Intrex Raleigh configuration was:
Total cost in August 2000 was configured at $2,963.76. This did not include about $300 for additional software such as Microsoft PowerPoint, PaintShop Pro, Hoyle Classic Card Games or something similar. It also does not contain approximately $200 for Windows 2000 and dual-boot set up with Windows 98. |
The August 2000 Intrex Raleigh configuration was:
Total cost in August 2000 was configured at $3070.82. This did not include about $300 for additional software such as Microsoft PowerPoint, PaintShop Pro, Hoyle Classic Card Games or something similar. It also does not contain approximately $200 for Windows 2000 and dual-boot set up with Windows 98. |
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Comments regarding the above: Again, the PC configured in August, 2000, was configured with additional memory (256 Mb instead of 128 MB). This is an additional cost of $180 that could be saved if desired (As of today, Windows -- including Windows 2000 -- runs quite well on 128 MB. However, in anticipation that applications that evolve as the years move forward, SCScompA recommends 256 Mb if the cost keeps the system near the $3000 USA budget). As I mentioned in November 2000, I personally would select the Intrex Raleigh machine since the costs are similar and the support from Intrex (up until now -- they have been in business for a number of years and I have dealt with them for three years) is very good and locally located . |
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Further examples of pictures placed in a small HTM for sharing with friends and family. |
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In July, the British Open golf tournament took place in St. Andrews, Scotland. The views on television brought to mind some of the pictures from my visits to St. Andrews.
This month's example of a small Web page that would be pointed to by letting family/friends know the web page address (mentioned in an eMail, for example) can be seen by clicking on: Some pictures of St. Andrews The file is a combination of very basic HTM commands (script) and the pointed-to JPG pictures. SCScompA has a lab exercise you can download which will assist you in building similar files for your home computer environment. The HTM part of the lab exercise would apply for any of your Web browsers, but the lab examples showing how to move the files to the Web use America Online. |
Freecell Game/Deal of the Month
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We continue, in our household, doing Freecell deals from 1-to-32000! We will NOT accomplish this task. We know that. However, as we go along in our for-fun-effort, yet frustration... I will mention once in awhile specific Freecell deals we find challenging.
Note: If you are running your PC on Windows 98, it is possible you have to specifically install Freecell. Just install Accessories/Games. Let me know if this Freecell game and the number of times we had to restart to solve the deal is about what you find. If you are going to attack deals 1-to-32000 and want to interact with us in that regard, let me know what thousand-or-so you are going to start with. We have completed deals through 1000. Now, we are attacking 1001-to-2000 and I would recommend you start with 2001! At the rate we are going (a little more than 100 deals a month) it will only take us 24 more years to complete the 32000 deals without your help. If you let us know what you have completed, it will take us less time!
Let me know how YOU do! If you want to see our list of Freecell Deals 1-thru-what we are working on now and our comments on how many times we had to restart the deal to find a solution, let me know -- or click on: SCScompA Freecell Table of Completed Deals
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Or send snail-mail to:
SCScompA
P.O. Box 58223
Raleigh NC 27658
USA
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