Vol. 21 number 9 November 2004 The newsletter of the Ottawa PC Users' Group Calendar OPCUG General Meeting National Museum of Science and Technology 1867 St. Laurent Blvd. Second Wednesday of each month, 7:30pm Nov 10 The latest in digital photography for the computer enthusiast, by Ginn Photographic Dec 08 Harley Bloom & associates - BMT MicroTech - 6th Annual Christmas Wish List Jan 12 Ian Stewart - GMC Guardian Mobility Corporation - Global Positioning System applications Feb 16 Corel's new Paint Shop family (formerly Jasc) by Michel Daw, Corel Corporation Mar 09 Apr 13 Eric Jacksch, Tenebris Technologies Inc., Ottawa May 11 Jun 15 BBQ Internet SIG (I-SIG) After the OPCUG General Meeting, at the Museum. Orphan SIG After the OPCUG General Meeting, at the Museum. Digital Imaging SIG After the OPCUG General Meeting, at the Museum. Developers SIG After the OPCUG General Meeting, at the Museum, and occasionally at other locations in the region. Delphi User Group, 8:00 p.m. To Be Announced PIG (or Wing?) SIG, after all the other SIGs, at 10 p.m. Chances "R", 1365 Woodroffe (at Baseline), College Square Please note that unless otherwise noted, SIGs meet at 9:00 p.m. (immediately following the OPCUG General Meeting). ____________________________ Coming Up... Date: November 10, 2004 Speaker: Ginn Photographic, Ottawa Web: http://www.ginnphoto.on.ca/ginnphoto/index.html Topic: "The latest in digital photography for the computer enthusiast" Ginn Photo is involved in all aspects of the photography world: "from film designed in the thirties, meters designed in the forties, tripods designed in the fifties, cameras designed in the sixties", to the latest in digital technology and video. With a downtown retail outlet, a full service photo lab. and on-line shopping, they also host a variety of workshops and offer "one-on-one" Photoshop coaching. Ginn's Digital Services group provides drum quality scanning, large format inkjet, fine art and custom printing, photo restoration and PowerPoint slide production. Ginn staff have recently returned from the fall photo shows and will have all the latest news from the top photo equipment suppliers. ____________________________ November Raffle If you have some documents you've wanted to convert to PDF format, but couldn't justify paying the price of Adobe Acrobat (full version), November's raffle prize may be just your ticket. For the price of one (if you're lucky) or more raffle tickets, you could win a copy of pdfFactory Pro, thanks to the generosity of FinePrint Software. A review of pdfFactory Pro appeared in the September newsletter - http://opcug.ca/public/articles/0409.pdf. pdfFactory Pro is priced at $99.95 (U.S.) and the purchase of raffle tickets will help keep membership dues low. Raffle tickets are $1 for one, $2 for three, or $5 for ten. ____________________________ Coming Up in December... Wednesday, December 8, 2004 Harley Bloom & associates from BMT MicroTech will be coming out for the 6th Annual Christmas Wish List. Just in time to finish up your shopping list ... or add some items to someone else's shopping list. ____________________________ WORKSHOP 2004 The OPCUG Workshop is fast approaching! Our 2004 Workshop will take place Saturday, November 20th, 2004 at the Heron Community Centre, 1480 Heron Rd. from 9 AM to 4 PM. There will be presentations covering computer security, office applications, digital imaging and hardware selection and upgrade. Knowledgeable OPCUG members will share their wisdom and bring a ray of hope to the uninitiated looking for a safe and enjoyable computer experience. The cost is $45 and will include lunch plus a one-year OPCUG membership and a CD with presentation material and related software. Please visit the OPCUG website (http://opcug.ca) and click on the WORKSHOP button. There, you will find maps of the location and bus routes. Print the online registration form or fill out the one below. Below the registration form is our flyer with the list of topics. Seating is limited, so register now! ____________________________ Workshop Registration Form OPCUG Workshop 2004 Saturday, November 20th, 2004 9 a.m. - 4 p.m. Heron Community Centre 1480 Heron Road, Ottawa, ON (please DO NOT make cheque out to the Heron Community Centre - see bottom of this form) Registration Form Name: __________________________________________________ Address: __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ Tel: __________________________________________________ E-mail: __________________________________________________ (please print clearly in CAPITAL letters) I wish to register for this workshop which includes a catered lunch, the presentations and associated material on a CD-ROM, and a one-year membership in OPCUG. Please find enclosed my cheque in the amount of $45.00, made payable to: OPCUG. Mail the completed registration form and your cheque to: OPCUG Workshop 2004 c/o Alan German, OPCUG Treasurer 622 Glenhurst Crescent Ottawa, ON K1J 7B7 ____________________________ WORKSHOP FLYER Ottawa PC Users' Group Beginners' Workshop Saturday, November 20th, 2004 9 a.m. - 4 p.m. Heron Community Centre 1480 Heron Road, Ottawa, ON Workshop Topics: * Virus scanners and firewalls * Operating system patches * Hardware upgrades * Wireless networking * Word processors and spreadsheets * Digital imaging * Users-helping-users The cost to attend the entire day's session is $45.00 and includes a catered lunch, a one-year membership to the OPCUG (a $25.00 value), and a CD-ROM with all the presentation materials for future reference. Full details at: http://opcug.ca (click on the WORKSHOP button) ____________________________ Club Life 2005 Elections by Jocelyn Doire For almost a year the current Board of Directors has been leading the OPCUG, but it is now time to elect a new one. You are all encouraged to get involved in the operation of the OPCUG by running for a position on the nine-member Board of Directors. It can be fun, interesting and looks great on a C.V. If you are not sure what is involved, just talk to any of the current board members at a meeting or send off an email. Their email addresses are listed near the bottom of this newsletter and on the web site (http://opcug.ca). Any of them would be happy to let you know how we operate. Wayne Houston has graciously agreed to once again head the election committee. The rules are as follows: * All nominations must be received by December 31, 2004 * All nominees must be members in good standing of the OPCUG, Inc. * Nominees may nominate themselves or may be nominated by another member. * Nominations may be submitted by email to awhouston@@sympatico.ca, or by postal mail to Wayne Houston, 6405 Sugar Creek Way, Orleans, ON, K1C 1X9, or also in person to Wayne at a general meeting of the OPCUG. * The submission should include the subject "OPCUG's Board of Directors nomination", your name, the nominee's name, address, phone number, email address, and membership number (if known). If you provide an email address, you should get a confirmation receipt of your nomination by e-mail. If more than 9 nominations are received, there will be an election at the February 2005 Annual General Meeting. ____________________________ Product Review A Tale of Three Routers by Chris Taylor Anyone who uses a broadband connection to the Internet and has more than a single computer should consider using a router to connect to the Internet. In fact there are benefits even if you only have a single computer. Routers provide inbound firewall protection. And if your Internet access requires that you use connection software to connect through PPPoE (Point-to-Point Protocol over Ethernet), you can get rid of the connection software. All modern routers have the capability to automatically connect over PPPoE. When I started using a Tablet PC last winter, I decided to go with a router that also included a wireless access point. That way, I could use my tablet while sitting in my living room. All the main names in routers now have models with wireless capabilities. I went with the Linksys BEFW11S4. The biggest deciding factor for me was the price - CompuSmart had it on special for only $30 after a mail-in rebate. And life was good. I could sit in the living room, browse the web, and read my email without being accused of hiding out in the computer room all the time. Life was not perfect though. The Linksys had a really annoying habit of dropping the wireless connection every hour or two. The connection would be re-established automatically, but software that is connection sensitive, such as the Nortel's Contivity VPN client or Sunbelt Software's Remote Administrator, required manual intervention to re-establish. To compound the problem, the DHCP server built into the Linksys took 30 seconds to a minute to hand out an IP address to the tablet. I hard coded the IP information to get around that particular annoyance. But while this helped speed up reconnections, it made life more difficult when switching between wireless at home and wireless at the office, which requires the use of DHCP. I tried updating the firmware on the router. Things were no better. I Googled and found some others complaining of the same problem with the Linksys BEFW11S4. But there were also some who claimed it gave them rock-solid wireless connections. I started thinking it might be an interaction between the access point in the router and the Intel PRO/Wireless built into the Centrino-based Tablet PC. I decided it might be worth trying a different router. Staples had a special on the D-Link DI-514 - $40 after rebate, so I asked Google about it and found that there were complaints and kudos similar to those regarding the Linksys router. I decided to give it a shot anyway. D-Link's DHCP server worked considerably faster than Linksys's. I was disappointed that the WPA (WiFi Protected Access) in the D-Link only supports WEP for encryption, rather than TKIP (Temporal Key Integrity Protocol), but I could live with that. But I was still getting disconnects on the wireless every hour or two. I flashed the firmware with the latest version available on the D-Link site. All of a sudden I was getting disconnects every five or ten minutes! I switched back to the Linksys and brought the D-Link back to Staples for refund. Back to researching. Another special. Future Shop had the Netgear WGR-614v4 for $40 after rebates. Google reported some users were having problems with wireless, but I decided to give it a shot. Netgear's DHCP server hands out addresses quite quickly. Security-wise, it supports TKIP for encryption. I have configured it to change the encryption keys every 60 minutes. It includes a Stateful Packet Inspection firewall, which should provide a higher level of protection than the packet filtering firewall, which is also included. And - finally - the wireless is quite stable for me. I still get occasional disconnects, but it is only once every 20 or 30 hours of operation. I can live with that. The only thing I have found that I don't like about the Netgear WGR-614v4 is that it seems to run a fair amount warmer than either the Linksys BEFW11S4 or the D-Link DI- 514. Heat is an enemy of electronics. I guess only time will tell if it is too hot. Bottom line - every router I tried worked flawlessly for wired connections. It would seem that many routers have some level of difficulty with wireless connections. If buying a wireless router, I recommend looking for one that supports WPA-PSK for authentication and TKIP for encryption. All routers seem to support MAC address filtering to prevent rogue wireless devices from connecting. Use it. And change your SSID from the default and turn off the broadcast of the SSID. As for what wireless router to get, personally I don't think there is a single right answer. While the Netgear is working well for me, perhaps a US Robotics, Linksys, or SMC will work better for you. I recommend that you try the router that includes the features you want and has the best price. If there are mail-in rebates, don't cut the UPC codes off the box until you are sure you are keeping the router. Otherwise, you won't get all your money back from the store if you return the router. You will have to wait the 2 months or so the rebate centres take to cut you a cheque. ____________________________ Clusty, and Google Desktop Search by Eric Clyde, I-SIG Coordinator A beta version of an interesting new search engine has come to the fore recently. It is Clusty (http://www.clusty.com) and is well worth checking out because it overcomes one of the problems with Google, where a search can produce thousands of hits, presented in what Google deems to be the order of importance. Clusty lets you sort the top three hundred to five hundred selected references by topics, by the source of the reference, or by the URL they appeared in. The topics vary depending on what you are searching. For example, in a search for [Lester B Pearson], the topics were Lester B. Pearson International (47), School (30), Minister, Prime (23), ..., Books (5), and More. There is also a set of tabs along the top, as follows: [Web+]: The default listing, [News]: News items, if any, on the topic from, e.g., Yahoo News, [Images]: Any photographs found on the topic, [Shopping]: anything relevant - e.g. it could be books on the subject, [Encyclopedia]: entries on the topic from Wikipedia, the online encyclopaedia, [Gossip]: if there has been any on the topic. There is an additional tab, [Customize], which allows you to set Clusty up as you wish. Perhaps I am biased, but in a couple of minutes I found something using Clusty that I had not been able to locate on Google, probably because it was buried somewhere in the thousands of hits on the latter. As usual, I recommend that you try out new search engines using one topic you know a lot about, and another that you don't know much about, to get an idea of how well they perform. But Google hasn't been resting on its laurels. It has recently released a beta version of Google Desktop Search, which uses the Google search engine to index the full text of your email messages in Microsoft Outlook and/or Outlook Express, as well as in Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint and ".txt" files. The program is quite small, 446 kilobytes, but installing it requires at least one gigabyte of free hard-disk space. Indexing is slow, and is done when the computer is idle. It can take several hours or even days to completely index a large hard disk for the first time. But once indexed, searching is almost instantaneous, being even faster than X1, which was highly recommended in a recent newsletter. It is also free; X1 is fairly expensive, but has many more advanced features. When you run Google Desktop Search, the familiar Google search screen appears, but with the additional option of doing a desktop search. Before you can download and install Google Desktop Search, you have to have administrator privileges on your computer, not usually a problem with home computers but could be with networked ones, and agree to certain terms and conditions. The programme "may collect certain non-personally identifiable information that resides on your computer, including, without limitation, the number of searches you do and the time it takes to see your results. Unless you choose to opt out, either during installation or at any time after installation, non-personal information collected will be sent to Google. This information will be used by Google only for purposes of operating and improving future versions of Google Desktop Search and will not be disclosed to any third party or used for any purpose other than as described in this agreement." These terms have some privacy advocates worried, but if you are willing to accept them, you will wonder how you ever managed to do without the programme. ____________________________ Product Review Identifying Changes to Excel Spreadsheets using Excel Compare by Alan German Excel Compare from Formula Software, Inc. provides a means to have the computer examine two Excel spreadsheets and identify any additions, deletions and changes between them. When the chance to review this utility came up, I thought that it might be just the ticket for readily determining what changes were being made to a membership database (for another association) that was being supplied to me in Excel format. The latter is a fairly large file with over 400 records, each having 32 columns of data, and it's quite a challenge to figure out exactly what has changed from version to version. So, was it going to be a case of Excel Compare to the rescue? Initially, I installed the evaluation version of the software that is available for download from the company's web site. The installation went quickly and flawlessly. The program's interface is clean and usage is self evident. One enters the name of the first Excel file to be compared and, if desired, the name of a spreadsheet within the workbook, a data range or a specific column of data. Enter similar details for the second file and press the "Compare" button to start the comparison. The program launches Excel, loads the two spreadsheets to be compared, and creates a third spreadsheet that contains a difference report. My first attempt was not entirely successful. The difference report had lots of words about rows being added, deleted and changed between the "master" and the "amended" files, but also indicated the "evaluation copy does not present all the records in the report". The trial version has a 30-day time limit on its use, which I could easily live with but, in my humble opinion, additionally crippling the program's execution in a manner that prevents the user seeing what data might be generated is a bit too much of a good thing. By all means, limit the time for the trial, prevent the user from printing a record of the output but, if we are going to try the program before we buy, let's at least see what it can actually do for us in terms of data display. Fortunately (for me), the company had provided OPCUG with a full version for the purposes of this review. Installing the electronic key was simple (Help - Enter registration key) and - poof! - we were instantly in business. Running the programme a second time, produced even more words about additions, deletions and changes, and more row numbers than I can think about. Not even the colour coding, green for the original file and blue for the new version, seemed to help sort things out. Perhaps this was a function of the relatively large file sizes, and multiple changes to the records, but the display was much too complex for a mere mortal, and certainly for a first attempt at assimilating the difference report. In order to figure out precisely what the program was trying to tell me, I opted to make a much simpler comparison, between summaries of OPCUG's finances for two consecutive months. [Note that this also allows the Treasurer to sneak an interim financial report into the newsletter!] Each month, the Board of Directors receives a brief summary of income, expenditures and cash on hand with respect to the club's finances, based on the values entered into an Excel spreadsheet (Figure 1). Note, for example, that Cell B17 has the total balance for our bank accounts at the beginning of July. Cells C17-E17 record the income for July in different categories, while F17-H17 record the month's expenditures. The total cash on hand after these transactions, i.e. the beginning bank balance for August, is computed as Cell B18. Similarly, the transactions associated with the month of August are recorded in Cells C18-H18, with the total cash at the beginning of September shown in B19. Note also that Row 24 records the totals for each category of income and expense. For the purposes of this article, the July version of this spreadsheet, with C18-H18 and B19 as blank cells, was saved as the file opcug_jul.xls. The August entries were then posted and the resulting file saved as opcug_aug.xls. Clearly, there were new entries for Cells C18-H18 and B19, and modified totals computed in C24-H24 in the August version of the spreadsheet. Running Excel Compare on the two spreadsheets produced a third spreadsheet displaying the differences that were identified (Figure 2). Note that the program reports that Rows 18-19 of the July (master) file have been deleted, but that they might be present in the August (amended) file after Row 16. One might query why the reference here is to Row 16, rather than Row 17 since the latter was not changed. Rows 18 and 19 are indicated as being added to the amended file, after Row 17 of the master. I find the foregoing a rather curious way of describing the changes to the file. In fact, rows have not been deleted and new rows added, rather certain cells on the two rows have been changed. In particular, new values have been entered into Cells C18-H18 and B19 that were previously blank. The entry for the modified final row of totals (Row 24) is a little more obvious, in that certain cells have new totals (as a result of the new transactions during the month). However, there are no references to the actual cells that have been changed, and the use of the symbols in Column A means that the columns are shifted between the actual spreadsheets and the difference report. For example the change that appears in Column D of Excel Compare's difference report (1,950.00 to 1,975.00) is actually a change that was made to Column C of OPCUG's financial spreadsheet. Returning to my membership spreadsheets, I ran Excel Compare once more. However, with my new found knowledge of the output parameters, I also opted to check the box on the user interface to: "Divide the report into three sheets: deleted, added and changed data". Now the Diff Report (Deletions) tab in the difference report showed me records of 11 members for whom the membership records had been deleted. Similarly, Diff Report (Additions) had records for 47 new members, and Diff Report (Changes) had listings of 14 modified records. The colour coding came into its own in the latter, since both the old and the new records were displayed, with just the cell(s) that had been changed being highlighted in green (old) and blue (new). Now it was easy to tell if the E-mail address had been updated or a new logon userid and password had been assigned. There are many other options in the program, all of which seem to be well described in the comprehensive help system. For example, for frequently compared files, the use of projects allows for setting and saving comparison parameters, and quick loading these settings when a comparison is needed. So, if you need to compare complicated Excel spreadsheets to identify changes between versions, Excel Compare just may be the product for you. Formula Software indicate that the price for a single copy of the business license is $39.95 (allows registering the product with a company name), while a single-user license is $34.95. Unfortunately, their web site has no information about the company's location, so it isn't clear if these prices are in US or (wishful thinking!) Canadian dollars. After registration of Excel Compare, you can unlock the software and all its future versions for further use. The company indicates that you will never be charged for upgrades. Bottom Line: Excel Compare Version 2.0.3 Formula Software, Inc. $34.95 single user license http://www.formulasoft.com/ ____________________________ Book Review Digital Photography: Expert Techniques by Harald Freise O'Reilly has generally been known as a well-respected publisher of books focusing on programmers, their tools and operating systems. Most of their books featured an endangered species on the cover and the books were primarily aimed at the sophisticated user (wonder if there was a direct link). Imagine my surprise when told that they had a new division aptly named O'Reilly Digital Studio. Digital Photography, Expert Techniques and is intended as a resource book crammed full of professional tips & workflow strategies for using Photoshop and enhancing digital photography skills. Author Ken Milburn, is a photographer in his own right and, in this book, introduces professional and "prosumer" photographers to the workflow involved in digital photography. This book keeps a tight focus on what a normal professional photographers needs to know on a regular basis. It is these practical applications that make this book so valuable. The illustrations are clear and precise so that you can actually see what was the "before" and what is the "after." The analysis, illustration and description of the workflow leading to and optimizing the quality of digital images are excellent. By focusing directly on the photographers needs from camera to finished product, Milburn's book is leaps and bounds above many of the existing Photoshop books out there. Photoshop is not the easiest application to use. Photoshop CS has very powerful image processing tools; you just have to find out where to find them and how to use them. It's unusual to find good material that covers and gives practical examples of the workflow associated with enhancing the digital darkroom experience. The tools used and their effects are illustrated along with the reasons for their use is clearly illustrated. The why, when, where and how to use each of them is given in a clear step by step processes. If there is one weak point to the book it is that the section on choosing among the latest digital SLR cameras. With the advancements and the number of new cameras introduced to the marketplace, it will quickly fall out of date and therefore become quickly inaccurate. The chapter on selling work on the Web may be of interest to those that wish to do that. He offers tricks of the trade with color images, his focus is on using Photoshop CS to optimize workflow and photo quality of the final print. I like the balance between camera, computer and software chapters. This is not just another Photoshop book, though it does go into considerable depth using Photoshop as the prime digital photographer's tool. Everyone, regardless of their level of proficiency should read the second chapter of the book. The second chapter is titled "Be Prepared" and is a terrific primer for the things that all photographers should already know. Written clearly with a digital camera bias it has everything from a prepared checklist of the things to have and bring with you to protecting your memory cards. Tips like always returning your camera to "program mode" and knowing your camera's shutter lag and write time are so critical for the digital photographer. We often forget the simple things, like emphasizing the centre of interest and focusing on the eyes that can often turn a snapshot into photograph. This book is not about knowing how to use Photoshop but how to be a better photographer in the new digital camera age. It is all about bringing out the best picture in each and every image taken by the photographer. Although the book is aimed squarely at the prosumer and professional there are enough tips and tricks to be a benefit to everyone that is serious about their photography. Yes, you need to have Photoshop to gain the maximum benefit from this book. The Bottom Line: Digital Photography: Expert Techniques by Ken Milburn (Author) Paperback - 400 pages 1 edition (March 30, 2004) Language: English O'Reilly & Associates; ISBN: 0596005474 List price: $65.95 http://oreilly.com/ ____________________________ OTTAWA PC NEWS Ottawa PC News is the newsletter of the Ottawa PC Users' Group (OPCUG), and is published monthly except in July and August. The opinions expressed in this newsletter may not necessarily represent the views of the club or its members. Member participation is encouraged! If you would like to contribute an article to Ottawa PC News, please submit it to the newsletter editor (contact info below). Deadline for submissions is three Saturdays before the General Meeting. Group meetings OPCUG normally meets on the second Wednesday in the month, except in July and August, at the National Museum of Science and Technology, 1867 St. Laurent Blvd, Ottawa. Meetings are 7:30-9:00 p.m. and Special Interest Groups go until 10 p.m. Fees: OPCUG annual membership: $25 per year. Mailing address: 3 Thatcher St., Nepean, Ontario, K2G 1S6 Web address: http://opcug.ca/ President and System Administrator: Chris Taylor, chris.taylor@@opcug.ca, 727-5453 Meeting Coordinator Bob Gowan, bob.gowan@@opcug.ca Treasurer: Alan German, alan.german@@opcug.ca Webmaster Brigitte Lord, opcug-webmaster@@opcug.ca Secretary: (Mr.) Jocelyn Doire, jocelyn.doire@@opcug.ca Newsletter: Brigitte Lord, brigitte.lord@@opcug.ca Email: (Mr.)Jocelyn Doire, Jocelyn.Doire@@opcug.ca Public Relations: Morris Turpin, morris.turpin@@opcug.ca, 729-6955 Directors without portfolio Vince Pizzamiglio, vince@@monisys.ca Tim Mahoney, timothy.mahoney@@opcug.ca Facilities: Bob Walker, 489-2084 Membership Chairman: Mark Cayer, Mark.Cayer@@opcug.ca, 823-0354 Historian: Ted May, tamay@@rogers.com Beginners' and Windows SIG coordinator: Duncan Petrie, gdpetr@@hotmail.com, 841-6119 Internet SIG coordinator: Eric Clyde, eclyde@@rogers.com, 749-2387 Delphi SIG coordinator Martin Pagnan, mpagnan@@cyberus.ca Orphan SIG Coordinator Ted May, tamay@@rogers.com Developers' SIG Bob Thomas, BobThomas@@msn.com Digital Imaging SIG Duncan Petrie, gdpetr@@hotmail.com, 841-6119 IT Pro SIG Chris Taylor, chris.taylor@@opcug.ca, 727-5453 Note: We added an extra "@" to the emails to reduce spam. (c) OPCUG 2004. Reprints permission is granted* to non- profit organizations, provided credits is given to the author and The Ottawa PC News. OPCUG request a copy of the newsletter in which reprints appear. *Permission is granted only for articles written by OPCUG members, and not copyrighted by the author. ____________________________ Newsletter by email: To receive the newsletter by e-mail, send a message to listserve@@opcug.ca with the plain text "subscribe NewsletterTXT" or "subscribe NewsletterPDF" (without quotes nor HTML code) in the body of the message. No subject line is required. Cancelling the Paper Newsletter: You can help the environment and save us some costs by sending an email to Mark.Cayer@@opcug.ca asking to cancel the delivery of the paper version of the newsletter (or ask him in person - Mark is usually at the back of the auditorium at General Meetings). Announcements Mailing List: To subscribe to the Announcements List send an email to listserve@@opcug.ca, leave the subject blank and in the body of the message put "subscribe announcements" (without the quotes nor HTML code). Within a couple of minutes you will receive a confirmation message from the list server. OPCUG mugs and multi-tools: Check out these great thermal coffee mugs and multi-tools sporting our club logo at the back of the auditorium at General Meetings! OPCUG insulated mugs are $15 and OPCUG multi-tools are $20. Reuse, recycle: Bring your old computer books, software, hardware, and paraphernalia you want to GIVE AWAY to the general meetings, and leave them at the table near the auditorium's entrance. Please limit your magazines to publication dates of less than two years old. If you don't bring something, you may want to TAKE AWAY something of interest, so look in on this area. Any item left over at the end of the meeting will be sent to the... recycle bin.