The Party’s Over – for this year!

That’s it people, game over, the curtain has closed on the final of my night classes this Academic year of 2009-10!  We started our series of adventures back in September and now it’s over for the summer break.  Time has flown by so fast – they say that happens when you enjoy yourself!

This was my tenth year of teaching Adult Education Classes at the Barry Comprehensive site, and we started off this year with three classes. Monday night we had our Digital Camera Class for Beginners. Tuesday night was our ever popular Digital Camera Class for Improvers, and Wednesdays was the PC Maintenance Class.  Sadly throughout the year, I lost the Monday class due to numbers, and for the summer term turned out somewhat complicated, but we devised a plan to keep the remaining classes alive!  All in all it was a brilliant year.

My thanks as ever go out to all of my students, who have given up their evenings this year to come along to the classes. It is the interest, the enthusiasm, the dedication of the students that makes it worthwhile, and makes me want to continue what has become a really enjoyable second job for me!

I have always said that when teaching these classes becomes a bind, or I get bored, then that would be the time to hang up my hat, and on that note, for those interested, I will be coming back again in September for another round of classes for the Academic Year of 2010-11. Hopefully some of the regulars will come back and harass me next year…..errr I mean come back for more learning!

In the meantime check back throughout the summer months, I will post a blog about the Art Exhibition next week, and carrying on blogging to keep you posted various items of interest as they crop up….so come back soon!

Enjoy the summer everyone.

See you in September!

PC Maintenance Class 10: Term 3

I thought as this was the last class, that we would start of, where for me, it all began, with my own BBC Model B Microcomputer. It was the first computer I had, and I had it in about 1985!

The BBC Microcomputer System, or BBC Micro, was a series of microcomputers and associated peripherals designed and built by Acorn Computers for the BBC Computer Literacy Project, operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation. Designed with an emphasis on education, it was notable for its ruggedness, expandability and the quality of its operating system.

While nine models were eventually produced with the BBC brand, the term "BBC Micro" is usually colloquially used to refer to the first six (Model A, B, B+64 and B+128, Master 128, Master compact), with the subsequent models considered as part of the Archimedes series.

My original BBC is long gone now, but I managed to buy a replacement recently, and it was stunning condition, as you can see from these pictures. I am currently looking out for a good quality floppy disk drive for it, know of one? Email me!!

After I demonstrated and discussed the inner workings of this machine, we talked about various other ‘old school’ computers that each of us had in past years!  Roger brought in his usual list of questions, which I answered for him, and with the distant rattle of Jim’s key’s coming to lock up, so ended the last of my nightclasses for the academic year 2009-10. I cannot believe that time has flown by so fast….it seemed like yesterday we began our adventure into the world of PC Maintenance and Computers.

As they say in the cartoons…….”That’s all for now folks!”

Digital Camera Class 10: Term 3

Tonight’s class was more of a get together and discussion of various things. We have, because of the weather, been able to get out and about taking photographs at various locations around the Vale of Glamorgan. 

Colin was back from his annual holiday to Egypt. He spent some time showing us the photographs that he had taken with his ‘phone’.  His Samsung phone has a built in 8 megapixel camera in it. Although he did take his other two camera’s. He had a wonderful time, despite it being ever so hot – about 52°C on one occasion!

Mandy had a few questions about Paint Shop Pro X2, as did Colin, which I was able to demonstrate on Mandy’s laptop, as she had it with her.

I also encouraged them to send in any photographs that they wanted displayed in the Art Exhibition at Palmerston Centre, which is next Wednesday.

Well that’s it – that’s a wrap!  The last Digital Camera class of this Academic year – what will I do on Tuesdays from now till September??

PC Maintenance Class 9: Term 3

Where is the time going, Class Nine already of the summer term! Time does indeed fly when you are having fun!

Tonight David brought in his computer, it had developed a problem, it wouldn’t start up.  Tonight of all nights, I hadn’t brought any screwdrivers with me, but luckily Keith had some in his car.  Taking the lid of David’s computer, it became apparent that the power supply was the cause of the fault. We made a note of the type of power supply and used one of the schools computers to do an Internet search for a suitable replacement. We found that Amazon.co.uk sold them, but obviously David couldn’t order online, so we found a telephone number for him to speak to Amazon. He will pursue this tomorrow.

Roger reported to the class that his computer was working better than ever….it’s always good to here positive news too!

After having a coffee break in the school’s Cybercafe, we went back to the class, and had a look at what is known as Hiren's Boot CD.  Hiren’s Boot CD  is a live CD containing various diagnostic programs such as partitioning agents, system performance benchmarks, disk cloning and imaging tools, data recovery tools, MBR tools, BIOS tools, and many others for fixing various computer problems . We had a look at some of the tools such as the memory checker, and a nice utility that does a low level format of the drive, so you can safely dispose it without the fear of your data being found or recovered.

It’s the last class next week, so stay tuned for an update on our final session for this Academic Year.

Digital Camera Class 9: Term 3

The end of term is rapidly catching us up, however I must say that after last year the weather has been absolutely fantastic this summer so far. We have been able to get out and about most evenings for our classes! We all take our own photographs of the places we go to and sights we see, but great weather is fantastic for the Digital Photography Class as in my opinion it gives people that ‘two hour’ slot to specifically take photographs, that perhaps they might not give themselves.  As ever the choices of location we’ve been to this term have been varied, to make it quite interesting!

We parked our cars up on Redbrink Cresent over Barry Island, and walked down onto Jacksons Bay. After examining a recent rock fall, we continued our evenings venture around the point into Whitmore Bay, Barry Island’s popular sandy beach. The sunset was beautiful.

Walking around the point, we walked along the promenade at Barry Island, watching the sunlight gently get darker. There were still several people on the beach for that time of day. There were the lifeguards practicing with there surf boards, or so it appeared, but we were still on the point so it was difficult to see really. Also there were two groups of people playing beach volleyball, but the light was getting too low for us to take pictures of what they were doing. We headed back up the promenade after chasing a few seagulls and walked back up onto Nell’s Point, where the was setting really nice, and eventually we headed back to the cars through the new housing estate! It was quite a successful evenings worth of photographs!

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II

The game will take place about six months after the events of the first game, and a year before Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. The Force Unleashed II will be the "dark entry" in the series, and a more "personal" story for the game's protagonist than the first game.

Players will control the clone of Starkiller, Darth Vader's secret apprentice and the protagonist killed in the first game. With a "fractured" memory and "haunted" by dreams of Juno Eclipse, Starkiller escapes from captivity on Kamino on a quest to understand his identity and to find Juno Eclipse. All the while, Darth Vader is hunting his reborn apprentice in an effort to make him become the ultimate Sith warrior.

Released October 26th 2010 – I cannot wait!

PC Maintenance Class 8: Term 3

Roger in class had brought his computer from home into class last week, and we attempted to speed it up a bit and resolve some of his issues. Sadly sometimes the only real way to guarantee the machine will work is to do a factory reset on the computer.

Firstly though you need to ensure you have your recovery CD(s). A recovery disk is a general term for media containing a backup of the original factory condition or favoured condition of a computer as configured by the manufacturer. If not, you will need to ensure you have a Windows Installation disk.  I usually sit down for five or ten minutes and make a list things I need, or things I need to keep, before doing such a task. For my own computer, the one at which I am sat at, whilst typing this blog, it’s list might look something like this:-

• Windows 7 Install Disk
• Device Driver CDs (for hardware that Windows couldn't install itself, my sound card for instant, or another good example would be a scanner or printer.)
• Check the last Backup! (Make sure its up to date so you don't lose any data)
• Application CDs (these are so you can reinstall your programs such as Microsoft Office or Paint Shop Pro)
• Anti-Virus software.
• Make sure I have no distractions, and that I have a comfortable chair! :-)

All similar boxes checked, we proceeded to reset Roger’s computer.

First of all we used the Vista Recovery DVD, this reinstalled the Operating System and the necessary driver for his hardware, as defined by Dell.  After about 15 mins had passed, we filled in the username and set that most important of things, the Windows wallpaper, and Windows Vista was installed. We then had to copy back his data from the portable USB drive that I brought in.  This put his letters, photographs and music files into their respective folders.  Of course without applications, Word documents are meaningless on their own, so our next task was to install Microsoft Office.  Having allowed that to install we finished off by installing Corel Paint Shop Pro X2 and Nero Burning ROM.

At the end of the class, and some insightful conversations along the way, Roger’s Dell Dimension 9200 was all sorted.   Roger simply needed to go home, connect himself back up to his internet connection and install his Anti-Virus software.  Because of the time permitted, we did not have sufficient time for Windows Vista Service Pack 1 to be installed, but it was something Roger had on CD, so I copied it to his desktop as a reminder for him to run that also. Typically one would expect it to run for about 20-30 minutes, which at 8:55pm wasn’t feasible in class!

I am sure he will not have a problem, but to ensure everything goes fine, I have asked him to phone me, and I will talk him through the installation of AVG, which is what he will be using to protect his PC from Viruses and Spyware.

Two more classes left, pop back to see what we get up to next week!

Digital Camera Class 8: Term 3

Tonight we were very lucky enough to be allowed entry to the Welsh Hawking Centre after hours, for our Digital Photography Class.  The Welsh Hawking Centre is a hawking centre on Weycock Road on the northwestern outskirts of Barry, Vale of Glamorgan. It contains the largest collection of birds of prey in Wales, with over 200 birds on site including eagles, owls, hawks, falcons and buzzards.

They allowed us to see the birds in their huts, and several of them were put on display in the grounds for us. We were able to take some close up shots of the birds and then walk around the centre looking at all the other exhibits. The grounds are beautifully kept and well looked after, and there is a huge variety of birds to see. Several types of falcons, owls, vultures, geese, the list goes on.

We spent a good hour and a half walking around the centre, and took loads of photographs. I took about 200 myself!  To see the whole gallery of photographs that I took last night, click here!  I must remember to send a set of the pictures to the centre, to thank them for their kindness. 

Next week we are back in the computer room, where we will compare our photographs and see what everyone has taken!

The above video clip is of a European Eagle Owl having a drink, and refreshing himself in the water bowl he is stood in!

Jasper is a Scarlet and Blue/Gold Hybrid Macaw.

PC Maintenance Class 7: Term 3

Tonight’s class was one of our surgery sessions. I had two computer’s booked in for overhauls. Veteran student of the group, Roger, had problems with the performance of his computer, and the second machine was an RM All-In-One PC that I had borrowed and brought in, that needed wiping!

Roger’s computer, a Dell Dimension 9110, pictured above, had issues when it booted up.  After running MSConfig and tweaking a few of the options, stopping some non-essential services, clearing some of the Internet options, and resetting some defaults, the computer seemed to be ok.  Roger’s computer also had a problem with the card reader on the front of it – it wouldn’t read cards! By going into the Device Manager, and removing the card-reader drives, then allowing the computer to redetect and reinstall, the device worked. We then proceeded to test the device by looking at Roger’s holiday photographs of his recent visit to Italy – very nice too!

The second computer, an RM All-In-One, which as the name suggests, is a computer where its a complete unit, with everything built in. You simply plug a keyboard and mouse into it. This one, a five year old model needed rebuilding, as over time it had gotten quite slow!

In recent years, bundled recovery CD-ROMs have become less common, as some computer manufacturers  are now utilising hard drive partitions to store the recovery data. Accessing hard drive based system recovery is usually performed by pressing a specific key combination during or after the computer's start up. Partition based recovery systems are usually faster than their disc based counterparts since the data is directly on the hard drive and no disc swapping is needed. They can also be cheaper for the manufacturer because they do not need to ship recovery CDs with the computer, adding the price of creating them to the cost of the computer. 

After simply pressing “double Shift” at a specific time, which was the RM’s specific way of performing this task, I was able to quickly demonstrate how to restore the computer to it’s original factory shipped state. Fortunately also this particular computer had preinstalled software on it too, which was also apart o the recovery procedure. 10 mins later the computer was sorted – ready to run! Job done!!

Digital Camera Class 7: Term 3

Tonight’s class started off at the school in the classroom, with a presentation on Photo Composition.  I introduced the group into what are known as the “Six Rules of Photo Composition”.

They are as follows; Simplicity,  Symmetrical Balance, Asymmetrical Balance, Radial Balance, Rule of Thirds and Framing.  Click each one to get a definition.  Having looked at a few examples of each, I set a homework project where I wanted one example of each of the rules!   Download the slideshow from class by clicking here.  If you have problems opening the document, go to www.adobe.com and install Acrobat Reader.

For the second half of the class, we drove down to The Knap where along the way, Mandy bought a loaf of bread, and we planned to take pictures of the seagulls against a sunset sky. The sunset wasn’t that fantastic, but the birds went crazy for the bread!

I didn’t take very many pictures myself, I was nominated to throw the bread (and I ate a few slices too)…it was all very reminiscent of Alfred Hitchcock’s famous film “The Birds”!   Talking of which, next week’s class will be at the Welsh Hawking Centre, where they have promised to put on a show, just for us. Check back next week to see how it went!

A Blog in a Blog – Website Update!

After having put lots of thought into it, and taking the advice of many, the best thing to do was to completely strip out the old long winded Nightclass Resouces section of the website, and replace it with a simple Nightclass Information page. The new page just simply has the information about the three classes in the new Academic Year, when the classes are run, the dates, and a brief description.  Coming soon will be a full detailed course outline which will simply be added as a link to that page, and notification of that update will be posted here.

 

Previously the system was complicated for many, you had to create an account, then you had access to separate Digital Camera and PC Maintenance pages, where there was an account of what we did, and then there was a ‘downloads’ section to get class related work and various online resources.  Now those resources will be apart of the this Blog.  When I write up the weekly entries of classes, not only will they be of use to those that missed the class, but also I can tag in resources, or related materials to the blog entry. Keeping everything neater and in one place. 

 

For example, in the Digital Camera class we might spend an evening using the ‘Clone Tool’ in Paint Shop Pro, and I can now in addition to the summary of the class, but add a link so that the students can download notes on the subject, or sample exercise files that we used in class.

A special thanks to the following people for their advice by email: to James Marshall for still not convincing me about Twitter, but good advice on some other technical details, Rachel Armitage for proof reading some of the sections, and hopefully some others that she doesn’t yet know about, and telling me to keep it simple!  Yves Spierts for his advice on the choice of colour and design aspect of parts of the site, and best of all to Mike Wolfe for his bit of advice “My advice is that if it's a night class, make sure u have the lights on so people can read notes and see the keyboard!”

Hopefully this will make things a lot easier.