Thread: Computer Lingo ???

Hmmmm.....we only have a Wal-Mart and Radio Shack.

Not that I live in the middle of nowhere and I'm sure there are computer stores in Charleston, but thats an hour and 20 minutes away from here. I'm afraid my choices are limited to the two mentioned above....

Colleen

Walmart carries the blank CD's and DVD's. The burners can be found online.

You might consider a DVD burner. The software / hardware can differentiate which media is loaded. Additionally, the storage in the cameras is growing. I use a 512 MB card in my camera. That almost fills a normal CD (700 MB capacity). On a two week trip, I can fill the memory card more than once.

If your computer has a USB2 or a Firewire port then you could go with an external unit. Windows 2000 and XP are generally plug and play. You don't have to install drivers; they exist in the operating system. The latest DVD burners are double layer (9GB). You also want one that is dual format. It will work with both the +R and the -R formats. It should also handle rewritables.

Rick

Hello Colleen,

First you need to find out if have a CD drive or a dvd drive.
Then you need to know if either can also write to the appropriate CD or DVD blank disk. In short, can it burn a disk for you. Then you can try the drag and drop method or purchase some software that will burn the disk for you.
Frankly, you need a geek at your side to walk you thru all this.
Do you have any computer repair shops around you?

Good Morning....I've been studying...

looks like I have a "samsung CD-R/RW SW2525...and just on a note I have Windows XP. I remembered too, that we have a "Staples"....duhh, obviously full of computer accessories, although a little pricey.

My computer has a Help section...as I assume they all do, its just the words are confusing to me as Computer Lingo rates as a Foreign language to me.

Hi ya Randy!! We used to have a Computer Repair place....but they went out of Business. While I wish I had someone who sit down with me at the computer, I actually find I like Y'all better anyway!!! I'll get it figured out, with a little guidance.

Colleen

Colleen, sounds like you have the kit you need. Best way to learn is to do it! CD's are cheap enough - just go copy a few and see how you get on. You can then impress everyone by talking about 'burning' cd's

Just do it - you wont foul anything up. Trust me, I'm a doctor

(Actually I lied about being a doctor, but hey, you never know, someone might believe it one day!)

Well, since your drive is a cd-r/rw you should be able to write both cd-r (write once) and cd-rw (rewritable) media. I usually just get cd-r media; it's not all that often I need to re-write a disc, and if I do, cd-r media is so cheap that I can usually just write a new disc anyway.

Windows XP has some stuff built in to write CDs, but I never use it. I like to limit my use of microsoft products to a minimum, like any good geek would . If I had to recommend some software, I'd say go with Nero. It's possibly the most used software for writing CD/DVDs, so you shouldn't have trouble finding it. It's very full featured, has lots of wizards to guide you through, and quite user friendly (though, too user friendly for my geek level). In fact, a lot of new burners like to come packaged with it anyway.

I'd agree that the built in Windows XP CD burning program isn't as good as Nero, it should get the job done easily enough for you. It works around the "Drag 'n' Drop" concept that Effigy talked about, so you basically just put in the blank CD-R and drag the files you want to burn into the cd-burner's drive and when you have them all there you hit burn. It is fairly easy, and I have no doubt you can pick it up easily.

Mornin! Whats the difference between "Rich Text Format" and "Text Format" ?? When I send files to people...which is better?

hmmm....what I'd really like to ask is "WHY are they ALL DIFFERENT" ? Is it like different formats for different computers...like different cars for different folks; sports, racing, utility, stolen...lol. wouldn't it have been easier to communicate if they all just interlinked?

Colleen

Originally Posted by churley

Mornin! Whats the difference between "Rich Text Format" and "Text Format" ?? When I send files to people...which is better?

hmmm....what I'd really like to ask is "WHY are they ALL DIFFERENT" ? Is it like different formats for different computers...like different cars for different folks; sports, racing, utility, stolen...lol. wouldn't it have been easier to communicate if they all just interlinked?

Colleen

plain text (.txt) is just that. They are only characters and no formatting, no frills what so ever.
rich text format (.rtf) supports formatting (ie. bold, italic), different fonts, colour, and some other stuff.

Which is better? well, rich text does more, but that's not always a good thing. If you just need to say a few words, plain text is fine, if you want some colour, or formatting, go with rich text. Although, now a days, you could probably just exclusively use rich text. The extra features won't slow anything down, and both are pretty much universally known by all operating systems.

OK....so when you say "supports formatting" you mean like a skeleton, or structure that the words, colors etc. are built upon...yes?

Colleen