NWA-PCUG Newsletter Article
Corneille au Gratin
by Betty Davis, co-President, September 98
bdavis@ipa.net
(click to email author)


That's a fancy way of saying baked crow. I've been eating a lot of that lately.

If anyone reads the newsletter (do I sound like Bill Shook?) perhaps you'll remember my last column wherein I sounded rather negative about needing a scanner and color printer.

That has all changed and this is where the crow comes in. Shortly after the newsletter was printed, we needed some copies of documents made at Kinko's, and My Lord & Master jokingly said that we needed a copy machine here. I had just spoken to a friend who bought a new scanner so I mentioned that a scanner could do it here at home.

So the L&M decreed that I needed a scanner for my birthday. I told him that would entail getting a new printer also, and he said, "Whatever works…". Can you believe that I actually was speechless? (Hey, pull yourself together. That hysterical laughter is definitely not becoming). When someone who doesn't know, and who doesn't want to know anything about computers makes this kind of offer, the only response is to jump at it.

It just so happened that last month's Smart Computing had Scan and Print as a main feature. I took notes and went shopping. I wound up with a Visioneer Paperport 6000 and an Epson Stylus 600, courtesy of the L&M.

Have you ever noticed that new hardware is never without some kind of problem? Everything had been going sooooooo smooooothly. For months I hadn't had any problems. How fickle life is.

The scanner hooked up nicely and the software was simple. The only problem was that it wouldn't scan. Now this is not something you can easily overlook when you have a scanner! My good mentor, Jerry McCollough, talked me through the BIOS and some peripheral changes and now it will scan. The photographs work very well but now I'm having trouble with the OCR and general print scanning. I'm sure I'll get back to Jerry again before this goes into print.

One thing you might want to consider before you invest in peripherals is where you are going to put them. I now have the scanner perched on top of the tower, which makes the whole thing look like a vertically challenged Greek column. Or an alien with several mouths and a flat hat. However you want to look at it…

The printer is a jewel. It practically installed itself which is a big help for someone who doesn't know what she is doing. I haven't had one problem with it, but I still get the giggles when the thing is turned on. It hums and bleeps and talks to itself for a few seconds before it finally wakes up. I guess I like it because I'm like that, too.

Just wanted to pass on all this information because I have plenty of Corneille au Gratin left, and I'd be willing to share the feast. Wings or thighs? Potatoes and gravy? Cranberry sauce, anyone?

bdavis@ipa.net I get enough exercise just pushing my luck!

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