SPAUG Newsletter October 2005

SPAUG Editor: John Buck
SPAUG Publisher/Business Manager: Susan Mueller
SPAUG Co-Webmasters: Stan Hutchings & John Sleeman

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Notes from the Prez

by Jim Dinkey

As I was driving through a small town I had never seen before, a female voice to my right kept niggling at me telling me that I was approaching another turn in so many tenths of a mile and so many minutes and seconds. And further, since there was a second turn that had to be taken almost immediately, the voice went on to let me know that there was another turn in so many tenths of mile and about so many seconds.

Thus I navigated over Pennsylvania roads just as fast as the locals and without ever looking at a paper map.

The voice was a GPS system by DeLorme ($50) that I had installed on a laptop ($900) and a USB GPS receiver ($50) thrown onto the dashboard. The whole works was designed to permit me to negotiate from airport to hotel 30 miles away at night over unfamiliar roads. At the other end of the state I needed to go from near the airport to a private home in what can only be called rural America with only 2-lane roads that haven't changed since colonial days.

Because I was going to be in rental cars that didn't have built-in GPS units, I made my own with the laptop's huge 15" display (by comparison to the built-in units) and also I needed to have a unit with which I was familiar immediately as the car was made available. My own portable laptop fit this criterion.

All I can say is that the trip was made much more enjoyable to have a "companion" along whispering into my ear the directions I needed.

The system even permitted me to set into the computer the prior day, a course that avoided an interstate that the locals told me was a total mess for six months because of construction. We laid in a course to an intermediate point using third-level roads paralleling the construction, and then from the intermediate point directly to the airport. The main pain on that trip was finding fuel near the airport to avoid $5.00 a gallon from the rental agency.

So I recommend this kind of support. Even if you have someone with you, the aid of having all instructions spoken for you and simultaneously shown on the screen is a great aid. Each time that I encountered an intersection, the scale of the map was automatically increased as I negotiated the transition, and then the scale was reset to include an overview of the situation between the present position and the next decision point. In case of a question, follow the orange line. Usually the exit is exactly where the line shows you to be - take the 20 degree one - not the straight one. The mileage distances are in 0.5 inch high numbers and are readable with just a glance. No problems with distractions or inattention.

This is what computers are for!

See me for a demonstration.

And finally, I have had some requests for descriptions the hardware that I used for my own GPS 15" screen. The software is DeLorme Street Atlas 2006. The GPS sensor is a Holux GPS receiver GM-210 P/N 96014-XX costing < $50 including shipping.

The receiver is WAAS compliant.
What is WAAS? Basically, it's a system of satellites and ground stations that provide GPS signal corrections, giving you even better position accuracy. How much better? Try an average of up to five times better. A WAAS-capable receiver can give you a position accuracy of better than three meters 95 percent of the time. And you don't have to purchase additional receiving equipment or pay service fees to utilize WAAS. Also see www.garmin.com/aboutGPS/waas.html

My final comment is that the 15" screen sure beats the heck out of the little readouts of the in-car or hand-held units out there for the same or lots more money. And you can use the laptop for other functions when it is not being used as a GPS unit.

[ TOP ]

General Meeting Notes

by four attendees

Administrivia

Presentation

[Rather than trying to combine these notes into one, I've chosen to let you experience Hank's presentation via four different people. I have done some editing of the material.—jb]

[ TOP ]

19 October Planning Meeting Notes

by Stan Hutchings

[ TOP ]

Save those Windows Update files

by Stan Hutchings

On the update website...
1. Choose either the Express or Custom option to scan. When the results are displayed, notice the plus symbol (“+”) to the left of each listed update.
2. Click the “+” symbol, which expands the information panel.
3. Click Details at the end of the text (a smaller browser window will open).
4. Under the “Get Help and Support” heading, click the link displayed, something like "http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=39987". This will take you to the MS Knowledge Base article that corresponds to that update.
5. Scroll down the page until you find something like ..."Microsoft Download Center", or something that itemizes the versions of Windows or Office the update is designed to update.
6. Click the Download button - usually at the top right of the page.
7. Choose Save from the popup option box.
8. Browse to wherever you want to save the file, preferably a folder labeled appropriately.
9. Click Save - or OK.
The updates can then later be installed again by going to that folder and double-clicking each one in turn.

[ TOP ]

Software Suggestions and Recommendations

by John Buck

To view my fonts, I use AMP Font Viewer.

For screen captures, and a fair number of other graphics-related activities, I use XnView.

To record longer pages, I use CutePDF Writer. It's like having electronic paper.

To record clipboard items, I use Clipboard Recorder.

Firefox is my primary browser, beginning when I learned about the Extensions (Tools/Extensions/Get More Extensions) that enable customization. Currently over 700 are available; some of those I've installed are listed below—

[ TOP ]

Valid HTML 4.01!  Valid CSS!