All are invited to bring along their digital photos for incorporation into a slideshow evening. Please be prepared to chat about your slides. Any subject (as long as it is legal!) is acceptable.
This type of evening was very enjoyable the last time we held it and now we have our new projector it should be even more enjoyable. I expect there to be at least one computer with card reader which should be able to take most formats. If your photos are on CD or DVD then we should be able to present those too. You don't have to run !OHP2 or Powerpoint but it is up to you - be as creative as you like!
This report is mainly based on Frank's excellent talk, but has also incorporated some fine detail from an extensive use guide for PDF creation which Frank is writing. He is hoping to issue a link to this when completed. If you are interested in obtaining this and don't think Frank has your email address then send him an email at <eaug@aaug.net>. Frank has so far distributed a paper copy of his draft in progress to everyone who attended the meeting.
Adobe are the owners of the Portable Document Format (PDF) and Acrobat is the name of their package which allows PC users to read and write documents in this format. For RISCOS !PDF is available for reading PDF files. PDF is considered now to be an industry standard.
Ghostscript is a program for generating your own PDF files on RISCOS. It does not sit on the icon bar as most software applications do, but is loaded into the background to do work when it is needed. It is put into Boot.resources or else into the boot sequence to be "looked at" on bootup. It also necessary to merge the SharedUnixLib into system.
For Windows Acrobat reader v. 7.0.8. is free from http://www.adobe.com.
For RISC OS users !PDF is much improved in the current version 3.00.1.17 26/32 bit 28 Jun 2005 than previously, available from http://www.iconbar.com.
For Windows
Acrobat Professional £477-95 VAT incl.
Acrobat Standard £296·45 VAT incl.
On RISC OS For Graphics based PDF work Artworks 2.5 @ £169.00 available from
http://www.mw-software.com/software/artworks/artworks2.html where upgrade prices are available.
EasiWriter and TechWriter v 8·63 @ £"99 and £124 respectively
from http://www.iconsupport.demon.co.uk/Prices/Prices.html
or as upgrades from http://www.iconsupport.demon.co.uk/Prices/Upgrades.html
Postscript and PDF, RiScript 5 @ £39.00 available from http://www.riscript.nl
For all types of work GhostScript v 8.54 is now Free.
Available from http://www.mw-software.com/software/ghostscript/ghostscript.html
In order to save file as a PDF file all that is needed is to print as a postscript file (postscript level 2). The printer driver uses a separate application PrintPDF. The task window shows memory set to 8192K as a default. So you print the document in the normal way to the printer driver.
After the print operation a screen opens which allows the originator to add a creation password and an access password. This may be used to allow others to read and print but not modify the document. Considered useful for official government documents.
When the password fields are completed the document icon is dragged to a directory to save it. Document may be created from text, images or bitmaps or HTML files.
The latest version of Easiwriter/Techwriter is able to save PDF files directly as well. This may include some of the more advanced features like active links. The security algorithm used for the password protection is RC4 40bit Rev.3
Frank also mentioned Ovation Pro's useful handling of Fonts in a document. he also mentioned Font print which allows one to clear out old fonts in a document prior to creating a PDF file.
This was a very well presented talk with lots of demos and this report is just a flavour of how useful PDF might become. I am looking forward to trying it out myself and getting Frank's full guide.
Many Thanks Frank.
Sadly I shall miss the slideshow evening as I shall be away taking more pictures! But Gareth will be back!. So I hope you will have a good evening. I expect Gareth will have more news about Royal who has not been well of late. We all wish him a speedy recovery.
Please note : -
Our December meeting will now be on the second Wednesday of the month - 13th December, since Bourne Vale have another event in our usual slot. (We've been bumped).
| November 1st | JPEG slideshow | All |
| December 13th | Gadgets evening and Party | All |
| January (TBA) 2007 | Social Evening | All |
Talks with Visiting speakers are shown in Red. We will give more details as soon as they are confirmed.
Our meetings are held at the Bourne Vale Social Club, Halifax Road, Ipswich IP2 8RE , for a map and other details please see the website. http://icenicomputerclub.users.btopenworld.com
The first visit is free and subsequent visits for non - members is £2. The membership fee is £18 due from the AGM date in April, but may be reduced for those joining late in the year.
Continuing our publicity for EAUG events - please see their Website for details of their next meeting.
Meetings are at the Great Baddow Village Hall, on the second Tuesday of the month
opening at 7:30 p.m. for a start at 7:45 - 8:00 p.m.
For directions see below (note the new web addresses)
http://www.eaug.org.uk or 'phone one of the contacts on http://www.eaug.org.uk/ppl.htm
"ICENI does not have any Insurance cover for computers or other equipment so please be advised that you bring machines to the club at your own risk."
P.S. My insurance company have added my computer cover away from home with no extra premium required, yours might do the same.(Ed.)
Following on from a brief discussion at the last club meeting it has been agreed that I should remove a lot of the old newsletters from the website and archive them to CD/DVD. I'll probably not do this before the end of February. If anyone would like a copy of the CD I'm sure this could be arranged.
I am open to suggestions on what people would like to have included in the new website. Our website URL is
http://icenicomputerclub.users.btopenworld.com as a virtual domain,
it can also be reached using http://www.btinternet.com/~icenicomputerclub
Email to: iceni@woolridge.org.uk