Computer Society

 

St. Stephen’s College  

Presents  

SEPTEMBER 2002

 

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THE COMPUTER BUG

COMPUTER – the ‘buzzword’ amongst all age groups in our present times. Who is not well acquainted with this brilliant progeny of science? Who can claim to be an ignoramous about the multitudinous benefits that it affords to individuals in each sphere of their life, whether personally or professionally? The computer with its appendage of the Internet is no longer a far fetched dream remaining to be fulfilled, and infact, has even ceased to be a so called "craze" or "hype". It has verily entered every arena of human life, making us ‘mortals’, entirely dependent on its various facilities and appurtenances. It is tough to draw a clear line of demarcation between the opposing views, regarding the desirability of computers. It is a requirement for one, and an addiction for another.

 

In our personal lives, communication seems to have become virtually impossible or rather at snail’s pace, without the aid of computers. Electronic mails have provided each one of us with an adequate opportunity to communicate effectively with people across the globe, even in the most obscure regions of our planet. But, what next? This is just the beginning. Even electronic mails seem to become outdated with the upcoming surge of ‘voice chat’, enabling a better and quicker mode of communication. Gone are the days when one undertook all that effort to write those lengthy letters, which took a long span of time to reach the desired destination. Now, one need not fret or be slothful, as we can shoot off our thoughts within seconds, no matter where they are destined to reach. All possible information on any required topic is easily accessible on the computer, alongwith all facts and data. Infact, ‘surfing the internet’ seems to have become one of the most cliched hobbies pursued by everybody, especially amongst the younger generation. It is not merely an inexhaustible source of knowledge and perennial source of information, but also a delectable experience, when accompanied with pictures and photographs, conveying a more holistic comprehension of one’s field of research. Whilst all these are vital advantages of having access to a computer, one can’t obliterate or even try to forget the most crucial impact that this machine has had on all age groups of people, specially youngsters, by offering the facility of ‘online chat’. Various chat sites have provided a common platform for people from diverse backgrounds, cultures, cities and even different countries, to come together and share their thoughts and feelings with each other. Bonds of friendship have come to be established, and quixotic sentiments in the form of romantic relationships seem to be thriving, as a result of this facility.

 

Professionally too, the field of Information Technology as a career option is one of the most widely acclaimed and upcoming profession. Software professionals are prone to attaching an exorbitant price tag to themselves, which is bartered for exceptionally professional services rendered by them. In contemporary times, the software industry can verily claim to be one of the most reputed and technologically organised industry.

 

It takes nothing more than a mere button to put this machine into operation which can be rightly regarded as the "Saviour" of mankind in this technological era, which is steadily acquiring the pseudonym of a "cyberage", which seems to provide a rational and logical explanation for the innumerable ‘cybercafes’ sprouting like mushrooms even in the most distant regions of the country. It is paving the way for modernisation, development and advancement in all possible areas, which is essentially the hallmark of a progressive society. It just takes seconds to get linked and connected to the entire world outside, and a simple click on that device ‘ironically’ known as a ‘mouse’ to provide us with a wide spectrum of information and expand our horizons beyond the within.

SO, GO GET CONNECETED!!!  

 

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Improve your Window XPerience….

Some neat tips to enjoy smooth sailing with XP  

Speedup the Start menu

 

The Start menu takes quite a while to display the list of programs installed. In order to get Windows XP to display the list faster, you will have to edit the registry settings. But before you set about doing this, remember to back up your registry before making any changes. To speed up your Start menu, go to Start->Run and type ‘regedit’. This will open the registry window. Then navigate to the following key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER C:\Control Panel\Desktop folder. Thereafter, scroll down in the right panel and double-click on the menu ‘Show Delay File’. In the Value Data box, change the default value for the menu speed from 400 to a lesser number, such as 1 or even 0. Click OK. You should now find a significant increase in the Start menu speed.

 

 

Modifying visual settings

 

If you have only 128 MB RAM, your machine might be a bit sluggish after installing Windows XP. So to achieve optimal performance without buying additional RAM, disable certain visual settings and free up some precious memory. Go to the Control Panel, click on the Advanced tab in System, and choose Settings under the Performance option. Change various graphical effects. Uncheck the animation and shadow options as they tend to consume a lot of memory. You should get a better response from your OS now without spending any money on RAM.

 

Grouping/ungrouping taskbar items

 

Try opening more than three windows of any program, for instance Internet Explorer, and you will see them automatically grouped together under a single button. This happens because Windows XP, by default, enables the option for grouping similar programs on the taskbar. To uncheck this option, right-click on a blank area of the Taskbar and select Properties. Under Properties, deselect ‘Group Similar Taskbar Buttons’, and then click OK. If you want to specify the number of windows before Window XP groups the program windows, you will have to navigate to the registry key   HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced\Taskbar Groupsize. Now right-click on Taskbar Groupsize and change the hexadecimal value to whatever you like (for example, 4 or 5 or even 10). XP will now group the programs according to the number you set.

 

Creating personal screensavers 

 

You can use your photographs for creating slide show presentations or even creating a screensaver. Right-click an empty spot on your desktop, choose Properties, and click the Screensaver tab. In the Screensaver list, click on ‘My Pictures Slideshow’, and click ‘Settings’ to make any adjustments such as how often the pictures should change, their size and whether you would like to use transition effects between pictures. Click OK to finish. The screensaver that will now be generated will display photographs from the My Pictures folder in a random manner.

 

 

Increasing connection speed

 

Some of us may find that after installing Windows XP, the Internet connection gets slower. A possible reason for this is the QoS (Quality of Service) installed. This service reserves 20 per cent of the bandwidth for itself, even with QoS disabled. In order to remove this reserved quota, you will have to make sure you are logged on as Administrator. Go to Start->Run and type gpedit.msc. Expand the ‘local computer policy’ branch, the ‘administrative templates’ branch, and the ‘network’ branch. Highlight the ‘QoS Packet Scheduler’ in the left window and in the right window double-click the ‘limit reservable bandwidth’ setting. Then, on the Setting tab, check the ‘enabled’ item and change the ‘Bandwidth limit %’ to read 0. After doing this, you should immediately notice a boost in your Internet connection speed.

 

Contributed by

Shivi Singh Verma

B.Sc Comp Sc II Year

 

SCANNERS

TYPES OF SCANNERS

 

There are primarily three types of scanners: Drum scanners, Flatbed scanners and handheld scanners. Drum scanners are generally very expensive and are used in pre-press applications since they have very high optical resolutions and feature very high scan speeds. Flatbed scanners are the most common types of scanners as they are available in a wide price range with varying levels of performance and are suited to both home and office applications. Handheld scanners are very rare nowadays as they have significantly lower resolutions resulting in lower quality scans.

 

 

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

 

Firstly, your computer would need to have the necessary ports that match the scanner's interface-SCSI, USB or parallel port. Since scanners create high-resolution images that are generally very large in size, you would also need a fast processor and an adequate amount of RAM for running image-editing software to work with these large files.

 

 

RESOLUTION

 

The optical resolution of a scanner is simply the number of light sensing elements that comprise of the scanning head. This is the true resolution at which a scanner can scan an image without any additional software or hardware interpolation. In a scanner's specifications, the first smaller number specifies the optical resolution of the scanner and this is what you should be looking at when buying a scanner. For example, a 600x1200 dpi (dots per inch) scanner has an optical resolution of 600 dpi. The second number defines the number of steps the stepper motor of the scanner can advance the scanning head forward while scanning. Therefore, in a 600x1200 dpi scanner, the scanner uses hardware interpolation to achieve a 2x bump in its actual resolution, since it can move the scanning head in incremental steps of 1/1200th of an inch. By doing so, it effectively guesses the best possible values for the 600 extra pixels created when you set the scanner to scan at 1200 dpi.

 

 

BIT DEPTH

 

This is a specification of the amount of information that a scanner can record per pixel. For example, a 24-bit scanner allots 8 bits to each of the red, green and blue primary colours. This effectively translates into 2^24 (or 16.1 million) colours that can be 'seen' by the scanner. However, while scanning, a scanner invariably looses some colour information either due to electrical noise or errors during the process of scanning. Therefore, manufacturers usually allot a greater number of bits so that the scanner can effectively choose the most accurate 8 bits per colour, resulting in the purest colours possible. This is why you also see 36 or 42-bit scanners available in the market.

 

 

WHICH SCANNER???

 

For most applications for home and general office use, a 600x600 dpi scanner would do just fine. See that your scanner has a colour depth of at least 32-bits. Even though it would eventually use just 24-bits, having more bits to choose from will result in better quality colours and greater tonal range. Also see that your scanning area matches the application you want to use the scanner with (A4 size should be ideal for home use).

 

 

Contributed by

Shivi Singh Verma

B.Sc Comp Sc II Year

 

ALL ABOUT MP3 Players

What is MP3?

MPEG is the acronym for Moving Picture Experts Group. This group has developed compression systems used for video data (eg. DVD). The MPEG compression system includes a subsystem to compress sound, called MPEG Audio Layer-3. We know it by its abbreviation, MP3. It is used to reduce the number of bytes in a song without compromising on the sound quality.

You can download MP3 files from the Internet using your computer and special software, either commercial or freeware. You can also convert digital music from a CD into MP3 format using your computer and commercial or free software.

You can play MP3 files in three different ways:

Ø       You can play them directly on a personal computer

Ø       You can decompress an MP3 file and record it onto a CD

Ø       You can play MP3 files on a portable MP3 player

 

In this article, my review is going to be on mp3 players…..

 

 

What is a MP3 player?

 

A mp3 player is a gadget which is used to play mp3 files. The advantage of MP3 players is that they are small, lightweight and rugged. They are a great way to carry your MP3 files with you!

There are mainly two types of mp3 players. One which just has a memory card to store songs, and the other uses a mp3 CD to play music.

The former can be connected to a computer mostly using a USB (universal serial bus) cable. The latter requires you to write a CD with mp3 songs and then it is used like a regular disk. The advantage being that mp3 CD can store around 10 times the number of songs a regular CD can!

 

 

Advantages of a MP3 player over a portable CD player:

 

Ø       SIZE: Most MP3 players are very compact and rugged.

Ø       They can store many songs in its memory that can be changed regularly at no expense (more songs can be downloaded from the net). A MP3 CD can contain approx. 200 songs which enables you to carry hours of music everywhere.

Ø       It is a very dynamic gadget. Its memory is upgradable, the playlist songs can be changed and a whole range of DJ mixing features are available.

Ø       A portable MP3 player uses solid-state memory. So unlike in a regular CD player, the CD will not spin and hence there will be no skipping in the CD during playback.

 

What to look out for in a MP3 player

 

MP3 players are found generally in the range of $75 to $500 depending on the brand and the number of features you chose to have. Some of the important features one must look out for (along with what I recommend) are:

Ø       Type of connection: go in for a USB port

Ø       Memory: 32-64MB (upgradeable)

Ø       Power supply: AA batteries/AC adapter

Ø       Display: Basic digital display (LCD displays are cool, but they increase the price of the player enormously.

Ø       Operating System: it should be compatible with the operating system you use at home (eg. Windows Me)

Ø       BRAND: some of the known brands which are popular for MP3 players are: Rio, Sony, Creative and Samsung.

 

Some popular internet sites for downloading music

 

Ø       Mp3.com (largest mp3 site, with over half a million songs and by over 87,000 artists)

Ø       Listen.com

Ø       Emusic.com

All in all, a MP3 player is a brilliant buy and if you are a music fan then nothing could please you more than this wonderful gadget.

 

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THE FUTURE ZONE

 

NOKIA 7650

          …redefining cell phone technology

 

 

 

 

·         Dimensions: 114 x 56 x 26 mm

·         Volume: 138 cc

 

 

 

The Nokia 7650 is the coolest phone in the market today!

Using it as a phone is just one of the many features of the phone. Of all things, it has an integrated digital camera in it. It offers you a whole new world of imaging possibilities. And it's easy to store the pictures you've made, or even download them and send them on to a friend. It provides you with a resolution of 640x480 and has a memory of 3.6MB for the imaging application.

Multimedia Messaging

 

Send your pictures over MMS, the Multimedia Messaging Service. It works like text messaging, except that you can send a picture, text and voice all at once. Snap a picture, write a short note, record a message. And send it as a multimedia message. You can send your pictures from your Nokia 7650 by MMS to an e-mail address, to another Nokia 7650, or to another MMS-capable phone.

New Advanced User Interface and Graphical Display

 

 

And when you can send, you can also receive. The Nokia 7650 makes it possible to make use of multimedia entertainment and

 

 

 

information services. So you could receive the latest news or sports headlines together with a picture and a short commentary. It's also a phone, of course, and you can do a lot more with your voice than talk. You can save up to 25 names and numbers for voice dialing, so you can call your friends by pressing one button and saying the name. There's also a voice recorder. Use it for recording voice messages to send as part of a multimedia message. Record a memo to yourself. Or even record part of a phone conversation!!!!!

 

Reva: India’s First Electric Car

Reva the car for the 21st century heralds a new era of non-polluting, cost effective, quiet city transportation - A boon in technology.

Hassle Free Driving

Driving Reva is so easy and relaxed that it is in fact a pleasure even in the city's stop and go traffic. With no clutch or gear, it drives like an automatic. Reva has the smallest turning radius and is easy to maneuver and park.

Hassle free charging

Just plug in, charge up and take off! Reva's charging system is extremely simple, very reliable and safe.

High on Technology

Two computers and the state-of-the-art electronics in the Reva provide an efficient energy management system with advanced computerised vehicle diagnostics.

The regenerative braking in the Reva recovers useful electricity by putting it back into the batteries. Regenerative braking lets

the motor act as a generator, converting the vehicle's momentum into electricity.

Eco-friendly
Being an Electric Vehicle, Reva is zero polluting and noiseless. It does not require frequent oil changes. Moreover Reva has high recyclable content.

Economical & Easy to Maintain

Reva offers a very attractive buy to its owners. It runs 80 Km on a single charge of 9 units of electricity. Reva’s body panels are dent proof and easy to maintain. With no engine, carburetor, radiator, exhaust and clutch - it has a minimal maintenance cost.

Safety
The specially designed steel space frame and side impact beams cocoons passengers in the event of a collision, shielding them from an impact. The body of the Reva is dent resistant and non-corrosive. This ensures minimum damage to the car and enhances protection to passengers in the event of the collision.

Reva Features In A Nutshell

Length                     :      2,638mm

Width                      :      1,324mm

Height                     :      1,510mm                                                        

Wheelbase              :      1,710mm

Ground clearance    :      150mm

Weight                    :      650kg

Steering

Type                        :      Rack and pinion

Suspension

Front                       :     Independent   MacPherson struts with single A-arm

Rear                        :    Coil spring

Engine

Type                       :    High torque DC motor

Power pack              :    48V 200amp-hr, EV   tubular lead acid batteries

Max power                :      17.5ps

Max torque               :      7.14kg-m

Brakes

Type                       :      Electronic  regenerative

Front & Rear            :     Drum

SpyCams:  A Divine Purpose of Their Own