About a dozen years ago, after a family funeral, Ruth Mann, a woman who has reached a certain age, came up to say hello to me. She was about to leave to spend the weekend alone in the country. "But what do you do there by yourself?" I in my naïveté asked. "I work on my computer," was the amazing answer. She was not a career woman -- in fact, I doubted whether Ruth had ever held a job. She was a widow, not given to much conversation, with no particular interests that I knew about. How wrong I was!
Ruth Mann is one of the noted collectors of our time. She collects, buys and sells -- and organizes on her computer -- a huge collection of ancient sewing memorabilia, from a thimble of 330 AD (that's the fourth century!) to a lady's lap spinning wheel of 1720. Her 7400 pieces -- including thimbles, needle cases, clamps, chatelaines, etuis and boxes -- very rarely were made later than 1920 although she "could not resist some modern hand painted Russian thimbles and a holder just coming on the market." What Ruth does on the computer is keep track of her sales and purchases, indeed of the collection as a whole. She has done other things as well. In the past, she had originated and for several years put out a thimble newsletter. And more recently, she put out a newsletter on her computer for her knitting guild. But now she has given up the newsletter and has joined two groups on the computer --one is an e-circle and the other is a one list group.
What a terrific way to make use of a computer! But as I talked to Ruth and as we corresponded by e-mail, I discovered some of the difficulties she had had in the electronic neverland. She started out with and had the catalogue of her collection on dBase. In the early months of 1998, she had a computer custom-built for her with Windows 95, and she kept trying to switch the catalogue to Word. All kinds of problems occurred, including her Cannon printer going on the blink. Wisely, she hired a tutor. But that person made innumerable mistakes at a hefty price-per-hour. She found another computer technician. And about a year ago, she had this local tech support company put together a system called Trademark for her. Ruth's e-mail address for any collecting aficionados is: manalive@landmarknet.net
At the opposite end of the spectrum is an old friend of the same certain age, Betty O'Neill, who, at my urging finally bought a brand-new, up-to-date Gateway machine in 1998. It was not quite state-of-the-art because she was not told that in two months, all of the new computers would come out with Windows 98. In addition, she was not told that the flat screen was available and terrific. When she began to use Word, she discovered that the print was not as crisp and clear as she had expected -- no matter which font she used. She finally settled on Tahoma..
In the meantime, she went down with to the local J & R store, and discovered the flat screen. She fell in love with it, not only for its exceptional color and very crisp print -- but also because it would take up so little desk space in her small office compared to the big monitor she had to keep. Just a week ago after a year and a half, Betty bought a flat screen computer from Gateway that does not have a box.
When she got the first computer, she hired a very capable computer technician (who has a different profession most of the time) at a very low hourly rate. He didn't know Word Perfect 4.2, however, and therefore couldn't help her transfer those particular files and especially batch files. Furthermore, when there was a problem, neither he nor Betty checked the cables and connections right away. But when they did, the problem was solved! In general, when things are not working, the first places to look are the connections to electrical outlets to see if the cables are plugged in sufficiently.
Sometimes, we think that you get what you pay for. However, this common belief is too often untrue. Another older woman friend who shall be nameless hired the most expensive technician I've ever heard of -- mostly because she thought a woman technician would be more sensitive to her needs. Wrong! This tutor was almost useless -- a fact which my friend discovered after spending $500. One of the main things she did not do was to write down any of her instructions either with paper and pen or on the computer itself. My friend, like most of us these days, does not have much memory for new technical matters. Alas, a waste. In another piece, I'll take up the question of beginners' courses.
One great piece of equipment many of you will want to know about is the Dynamo, produced by Fujitsu Computer Products. A little box that sits on top of your big box (or it can be installed internally), the Dynamo is an extremely easy-to-use back-up system.
Laser disks are used, instead of tape, because tape has a finite life of about seven years, and laser disks seem to last indefinitely. Tape also does not allow you to find a particular file quickly. But with the laser disk, you have practically an extension of your hard drive and can find things very easily. Also, the ease of use encourages back-up delinquents like me to put the disk in periodically.
There are a couple of drawbacks: the disks hold only 640 megabytes, and their current street price is about $18.00, not particularly cheap. Neither is the machine that retails for $349.00. But these disadvantages, to my mind, are left by the wayside when you compare the usability and simplicity of the Dynamo and its laser disks with other systems. Furthermore, an improved Dynamo with a 1.3 Gigabyte 3.5" Magneto-Optical Drive has come out. The new item, however, can only be installed internally (through Silicon Graphics) so far and most of us do not need to back up more than 640 megabytes of data.
If your local computer store does not carry the Dynamo, call Fujitsu at 800-626-4686. Or you can turn to their website and your own Magneto-Optical Drive can be purchased there. Once you get to a search engine, typing in http://www.fpca.com will bring you to the Fujitsu site.
NOTE TO READERS: If you know something or someone that might be interesting for this column, or if you would just like to comment, my e-mail address is: ShirleyCS@aol.com -- and I hope to hear from a few of you with exciting things to communicate! However, do not be surprised if I don't e-mail back for a time -- I'll be doing my best to get the column out on a regular basis, and that takes a lot of time as it is plus all the other writing and arranging that takes even more time!
@ Copyright 1999 Shirley Camper Soman