Re: Web Site Horror--Feedback requested

Tom Ferguson wrote:
>
> Hello Katharine, a few thoughts.
>
> Getting your "files/scans" from an old system to a new system is
> relatively simple. It really depends on what you own, how much of a
> "hardware nerd" you are, and/or who you want to pay.
>
> Option 1) Most modern computers will have an ethernet port, just get a
> crossover cable and set up a temporary network between your old and new
> computer. Then you can copy all of your existing files onto your new
> computer. Some modern computers will do this with either a crossover or
> standard ethernet cable, others require a crossover cable.

Tom, I sure hope you're right, and that it's this simple. Yes, my old
computer (a Mac G3) has ethernet (but ethernet with different numbers
from the ethernet on the new computers; I don't know if that makes a
difference or not?); I run my laser printer from the ethernet port. And
I think I might even have a crossover cable in my cable inventory. But
if it was this simple, why didn't someone tell me? (Maybe I asked the
question in a way that confused them).

>
> Option 2) Burn the existing files onto a DVD or two or thee and
> transfer them over.

I did actually think of buying a DVD recorder, or a writable CD drive,
just for this purpose, until I looked in a catalog and realized that
these drives are all USB.
 
>
> Option 3) If your new and old system use the same type of hard drives,
> install the old computer's hard drive as a second/slave drive inside
> the new computer. Once you've copied everything you can remove the old
> drive and put it back into the old computer. If you old system is worth
> no $$, consider instead removing its hard drive and dropping it into a
> firewire (and/or USB) external case. Instant transfer and external
> storage!

Interesting idea, thanks. I kind of doubt they are the same; it seems
like everything is different. In fact the salesman I talked to acted
like I was an idiot to think that anything could be salvaged; his
attitude was, well, if you've had it that long of course you will have
to buy all new hardware and new software and lose all your files, what
would you expect? He simply had no options to offer me at all, that's
why I talked to the service guys, who weren't actually any more
reassuring.

>
> Option 4) Most good "we custom build PC" places, and I think the real
> "Apple Stores", will for a small amount of $$ do option #1 for you when
> you purchase a new computer. I'm not talking about "Frys" or "Best
> Buys" or "Costco", you need a "real" computer store for this option.

Yes, I'm planning to buy my new system at the same good Mac store that I
frequented in the old days when I bought three systems in 8 years.
Thanks for the tip. I don't understand why neither the salesman or
service guys I talked to there offered that as an option, but like I
say, perhaps I didn't frame the question in a way that they understood
what it was I was asking.

 
>
> Now, as to running a SCSI scanner on a non scsi computer....... I had
> no luck with the USB to SCSI adapters. They simply did not work with my
> Umax scanner. There are PCI scsi cards that will fit almost any PC/Mac
> desktop and allow you to "add" scsi to a modern computer for about
> $80US. I use my scanner so infrequently that I get my ANCIENT Mac 3400c
> laptop out of the closet when I need to do a scan.

Thanks, I appreciate the benefit of your experience. The flatbed scanner
(Epson Expression 1680) is the one thing I am expecting to salvage from
my old system, since it's new enough to have a USB port in addition to
the SCSI port. Everything else (peripherals) needs to be replaced
anyway.

>
> By the way... "optimize for web" is just a jpg compression (which
> photoshop 5 had) with the added feature that it strips the preview and
> some meta tags to make a SLIGHTLY smaller file. That is nice, but
> hardly a reason to buy a new computer! Optimize for web will NOT make
> "better looking" web images.

That's good to know, but Hmm.... where would that be in Photoshop 5? In
the Save as JPEG dialogue box, I just get a slider for low to high
compression and three format options: Standard, Optimized (would that be
it?) and something else that didn't look like it would be it, but that I
already forgot in the time it took to come back to Netscape from
Photoshop.

Thanks for thinking about this. I'm supposed to be getting ready to
leave on a trip so I should probably get off here.
Katharine

>
> Tom
>
> On Sep 21, 2005, at 8:29 AM, Summers, Jeff wrote:
>
> > I am not sure if this will help, but there is a usb to scsi adapter
> > cable by Adaptec, Adaptec Model 1856600 USB to SCSI Adapter.
> > Unfortunately, it is about $55, but is good on PC or MAC systems.  You
> > could try looking at Newegg or Zipzoomfly websites, or just Google in
> > general the phrase usb to scsi.
> >
> > Sincerely,
> > Jeff
> >
> > Dr.  Jeffrey Summers
> > Office of Environmental Systems
> > Office of Fossil Energy
> > U.S. Dept of Energy
> > 301-903-4412
> > jeff.summers@hq.doe.gov
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Katharine Thayer [mailto:kthayer@pacifier.com]
> > Sent: Wednesday, September 21, 2005 4:24 AM
> > To: alt-photo-process-l@sask.usask.ca
> > Subject: Re: Web Site Horror--Feedback requested
> >
> > Thanks for suggestions, Jeffrey and all....
> >
> > Everything has always been set to sRGB, but it's interesting that you
> > and a couple of other people remark that on your monitor, the bowl has
> > a
> > red cast, or even looks reddish brown. There shouldn't be any red in
> > the
> > bowl at all; it's a deep navy blue that shades into black on the right
> > side. Someone suggested that I should have chosen the option to
> > "optimize for the web" which made me laugh, since my most recent
> > version
> > of Photoshop (5.0) still assumes that the only place an image would go
> > from Photoshop would be into print publication;  it offers no option to
> > optimize for the web. (After spending myself into the poorhouse keeping
> > up with the cutting edge of digital imagining from 1990 to 1998, I
> > stopped buying software and hardware at that point, and have bought
> > nothing but a new flatbed scanner since then).
> >
> > I was thinking that if I ever get time, I'll re-adjust all those images
> > when I get a new system with new Photoshop, properly calibrated, but
> > then I remembered my other horror: I don't have any way to transfer the
> > original scans to a new system. My old system is SCSI and everything
> > now
> > is USB; the computer guys tell me there's no such thing as an adapter
> > that will translate one to the other. If anyone has a good idea for how
> > to not only save my files but be able to transfer them to a new system,
> > I'd be most appreciative. My brother who was the systems guy for a
> > corporation says he can't think of a way, unless I had a place to FTP
> > everything to and then download it from there to the new system, which
> > would take days but at least would be a solution. But at any rate I
> > don't have such a place. I've held onto this old thing for so long, for
> > another reason because I've got Hypercard stacks with thousands of
> > cards
> > that I started in the early 1990s to store my research for writing.
> > When
> > I moved to this computer in 1998, it still ran the Hypercard I had from
> > before, but the Mac guys tell me that the newer systems don't, and
> > besides, how would I transfer the information anyway.
> >
> > Up a creek without a paddle?
> > Katharine 
> >
> >
> > Jeffrey D. Mathias wrote:
> > >
> > > Katharine,
> > >
> > > A good page of yours to also look at is the "color and pigments".
> > > Although from your description "...should have luminous blushing
> > > apricots in a dark blue bowl. The apricots should look clean and
> > clear
> > > and luminous, and there should be some detail even in the darkest
> > part
> > > of the bowl.", the appricots seems OK as you describe, but the bowl
> > may
> > > not have all the blue you indicate (even though more on left side). 
> > The
> > > blue seems to have a lot of red.  Anyway, it is very difficult to
> > > compare without an original and even then correct viewing light must
> > > then be used.
> > >
> > > Two suggestions:
> > > 1) What I have found to work well is to keep everything (scanner,
> > > photoshop, monitor, etc.) set to sRGB.  It seems as though the
> > industry
> > > uses this as a standard and is the default given to most equipment.
> > > When one goes to your web page, most likely their color space will be
> > > set to sRGB.  One of the problems I have had in the past (with photos
> > > from various people for a newsletter) is that if one uses Photoshop
> > > which has a different color space default, Photoshop changes the
> > color
> > > and saves it that way.
> > >
> > > 2) For critical color presentation, a test image should be included
> > on
> > > your site so that the viewer can adjust their monitor to view the
> > proper
> > > color (space, temperature, gamma, density range, etc.)  Probably one
> > of
> > > the most overlooked monitor adjustments is the color temperature.
> > >
> > > --
> > > Jeffrey D. Mathias
> > > http://home.att.net/~jeffrey.d.mathias/
Received on Wed Sep 21 11:14:09 2005